Cerulean Violet Sands
by Sailor Charon
Summary: Takes place 3000 years ago in Egypt: Thief King Bakura will do anything to destroy everything. A haphazard meeting with a girl causes obstacles for his twisted plans. Future chapters may contain angst. Rated T for violence.
1. Cerulean meets Violet

**Cerulean Violet Sands**

_**Disclaimer** I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh, but if I did, I'd be living in Japan and my name would be Kazuki Takahashi, unfortunately that's not the case T.T However, I do own my original character, Princess Millennia n.n_

_**Author's Note **Hey, everyone! Thanks for taking the time to read my fanfic, or even to click it, lol! I haven't posted any new stories since 2002, but now I have finally decided to post stories again. This is my little kick-off fanfic, though originally I had been typing it for my own fun, but during the middle of typing it, I thought "Why not post it on here?" So, here it is several weeks later after starting it. I have been writing lots of fanfics and joined rpg's for years, next to reading and reviewing fics here, but I finally decided to stop being lazy and post a fic finally Now that I got all of that off my chest, I'm now going to explain some things you may need to know while reading this.** Warning: Possible spoilers if you have not seen the last season of Yu-Gi-Oh** First, this takes place 3,000 years ago in ancient Egypt when Yami no Yuugi was pharaoh. The events are basically the same as they were in the Memory World saga of YGO, but some events will be out of order, because the pharaoh's memory was a 'Yami no RPG' (RPG of Darkness) created by Yami no Bakura. So even though in the anime and manga, the pharaoh's memory was close to the actual events of the past, but not exactly how the past had went, some of it was altered and changed by Yami no Bakura and because of Yuugi, Anzu, Jonouchi and Honda's interferences with the memory world. But besides that fact, everything else will be very canon or close to it. **(End of spoilers) **This fanfic is also a crossover of the YGO videogame for Playstation, "Forbidden Memories." I will be using characters from there as well. Here is the list of characters that will appear in this chapter **(Possible spoiler if you do not know Yami no Yuugi's real name)**:_

_**Original Character-Princess Millennia** (She is my original character. I know too many people do not like OCs, but it'd be great if you gave her a chance. If you choose not to, then that's your opinion and I respect that.)_

_**Yami no Yuugi-Pharaoh Atem** (Atem is his real name; Atemu is the Japanese way of saying it, because of the writing system in Japan. The actual name is Atem.)_

_**Anzu Mazaki-Anzu **(If you're wondering why her name is not Téana, it's because in the Japanese version of Forbidden Memories, her name is still Anzu. Plus, in the videogame, her eye color is a reddish-brown, not blue, so I will be referring to her eye color in this fic to her videogame eyecolor.)_

_**Katsuya Jonouchi-Jonouchi **(same reason as applies to Anzu, his name is not Jono in the Japanese game, but Jonouchi; his eye color stays the same, lol)_

_**Seto Kaiba-High Priest Seto** (he will have the appearance and personality that he has in the anime, not the videogame.)_

_**Grandpa Sugoroku Muuto-Royal Vizier Shimon** (he will have his appearance as in the videogame.)_

_**Black Magician-High Priest Mahaad **(some may believe his name is Mahhad**o**, but like Atem, his name is actually Mahaad.)_

_**Black Magiacian Girl-Mana **(You can't have an ancient Egypt fanfic without cute little Mana n.n)_

_**Yami no Bakura-Thief King Bakura** (Did you know that when pronouncing Bakura the Japanese way, Bahk-rah, it's actually an Egyptian food, I believe. Bakura will be seen in this fic with his usual attire, and a scene where he does not wear the red cloak, but the tan one underneath, just noting to not cause any confusion n.n;; )_

_More characters will appear in later chapters!_

_Sorry, for the lengthy introduction, but I just wanted to clear things up so that the story may be more enjoyable to read (but at least most of you will skip over this part most likely --;;) Anyway, please enjoy!_

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****Diaha! One-_Cerulean meets Violet_ **

White orbs of light were scattered across the enormous black blanket entitled the sky, the silver moon at full. It was a fairly cool night, despite the scorching temperatures during the day that many must endure always. The deserts of soft, copper sand that engulfed the earth surrounded the premises of a fairly large city in Egypt. This city was Cairo; the clay buildings, old and new, the many pyramids of golden brick, the large statues of Egypt's gods guarding these lands as the protectors. Though, the most beautiful site that could unarguably be the eighth wonder of the world was the kingdom itself, which was inhabited by the royals themselves, the pharaoh included, the god of Egypt, so the people of this nation would say.

Tonight, the lustrous city of Cairo gleamed with many lights, and looked even more exquisite under the dancing stars in the darkness of the sky. People paraded around the streets, enjoying themselves in the celebration. Many stands of the merchants and traders were thrown about the city as crowds formed around and children played innocently. Musicians brought life to this city and dancers swayed back and forth before bonfires. The women in their gorgeous colorful clothing and the men drinking merrily their wine, the gamblers with their dice and the many people decorated the city in all joy. Life was obviously exuberant here and shone graciously throughout the country.

And Princess Millennia didn't want to miss out on even one minute of it.

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"Princess! Princess! Prinnnncesss!"

The voice of the royal vizier could be heard ringing throughout the darkened, golden halls of the kingdom. He was of short stature with gray hair and a black veil covering half of his face. He had wise, dark eyes and his attire consisted of the traditional royal vizier's tan and purple robe with a tall royal headdress placed on his head. He ran up and down the halls in an apprehensive state.

"Princess!"

"Oof!"

The old man fell on his behind after he collided with something taller and stronger.

"Uh . . . oh . . . um- good evening, Shimon!"

The figure he had hit was standing above him with a helping hand extended down to him apologetically. He received the slender hand and was now on his feet. He began to brush himself off as the other figure began to tip-toe away.

"Princess Millennia! The kingdom has been looking all over for you! Where were you, princess?"

The royal vizier scolded the taller figure, who stood at about five feet and nine inches, and the elder high priest waited impatiently for a reply. The figure stopped immediately in their footsteps and turned around toward the one called Shimon. They released a sigh of defeat and placed their hands above their head.

"You got me, Shimon. I just wanted to go into the city and see the celebration! It looks like so much fun! I _have_ to go!"

Shimon sighed at the princess, Millennia, she was named. Even in the dimness of the hallway, her radiant beauty still glowed. Despite wearing an ashen colored robe which covered her entire body, her clear, cerulean eyes were luminescent in the darkness and could be seen from underneath her hood. Strands of her copper and minor other browns of her hair were slightly embracing her mischievous, child-like face. Her skin tone was a light peach, which was a rare find in this part of the world where mainly everyone had an olive colored skin-tone. She had a slim build, but don't let that fool you. The princess wasn't much for violence, but if it was necessary, she would have to take action; she had secretly trained with her older brother back in her previous kingdom, learning a basic fighting technique. She let her long locks of chocolate hair sway freely and ended at the middle of her thighs. The princess usually pulled it up into pigtails with golden accessories, but both items were absent. To top it all off, the usual multifarious, gold dress she wore and her family tiara with the millennium eye engraved in the center of it were replaced with a hood and a tan commoner's dress, which went down underneath her collar bone and ended right above her knees. A brown strap encircled her waist and the jagged sleeves ended at her small wrists. On her feet, were not shoes, because she was afraid to look wealthy, but she neither revealed bare feet, but white wrappings of what they had used for wrapping the mummies, was tightly bound to the soles of her slender feet. In this guise, she could truly pass for a modest villager.

"Oh, but, princess, you mustn't leave the palace! It's too dangerous! If I may recall, your highness, but just a few weeks ago before you were betrothed to the pharaoh, our kingdom was attacked by a group of devils on horseback that burnt down a quarter of the city! They were led by the heinous, 'Thief King Bakura,' the ruthless tomb robber who harnesses the destructive and hateful power of Diabound, a powerful ka beyond imaginable! He had assaulted the pharaoh and the royal court for the Millennium items, though fortunately the pharaoh fought back with the power of the gods and caused Bakura to retreat, but Bakura left recklessly. If he returned with his minions to destroy the festivities our people are having, you could be killed along with many others!"

The princess cocked her head to the side thoughtfully after hearing Shimon's explanation. Then, she smiled insouciantly and placed her hands on top of her hips, causing her midnight cloak to flair out a bit.

"The people _are _celebrating for the restoration of their city, nay? This will be _my_ city soon too, so shouldn't I be able to go dance unto my heart's content before the torches of flames that illuminate this city of Cairo and admire the stunning stars in the night sky from a normal person's point of view? Do I not have a right, Shimon?"

The royal vizier protested against the audacious girl.

"Nevertheless, my princess, what if someone saw you? They may not know who you are and decide to stone you to death because of your light flesh color and blue eyes! '_An omen of evil' _they would call you! Curse you for your appearance as a foreigner! We are in hard times, my princess, hard times. After recovering from a war just a few years ago and now this incident that happened a few weeks back, people will not trust anyone who is not of Egyptian heritage and will not hesitate to eliminate them, innocent or not. Since our utmost-respected pharaoh, Atem, is of age, the law decrees that he must be wed by his twenty-first birthday which is only in a few short days. You were chosen out of the many princesses in the world to be his bride; Princess Millennia, age sixteen, of Greece! Soon to be Queen of Egypt! Don't you see, princess? When you marry the pharaoh, perhaps our country's restlessness and aggressiveness toward foreigners will die down, and eventually stop. You are apart of this country's hope for the future! We cannot have anything happen to you! You have lived in the palace for a week already, and by watching our villagers from time to time around the palace garden, I think you may see my point. It is your destiny to be here."

"So you and everyone else may think . . ."

Princess Millennia's facial expression became more melancholy. Shimon blinked at her in surprise of her poignant response.

"To stay in the palace and be isolated from the world for the rest of my life is my destiny? Though, dear Shimon, I am reckless. I am a free-spirited human being who wants nothing more than to get away from this life-style. I may try again and again to escape it. However, even if did, I wouldn't last too long all by myself. For some reason, I am unable to summon my ka spirit. Heh . . . I don't even know what it looks like or what kind of power it may bestow. Despite that fact . . . just once . . . please, Shimon . . . let me go into the village . . . let me be with ordinary people! My people!"

After a moment's consideration, the old royal vizier sighed in surrender. He could never give into Princess Millennia's sad, blue puppy-dog eyes of torture.

". . . alright, princess."

A wide smile took control of the princess's face.

"Really?"

"Ay. I will act as if I had never found you. Go into the city of life and laughter that you desire and love so much. But please come back soon. Do not go in over your head or attract too much attention. I will wait for you at the palace gates when the guards are in the middle of their shifts. If you are still not there, I will have no choice but to send the guards after you to bring you back. Am I understood, princess?"

The vigorous brunette nodded coherently with a cheery smile.

"Yes! I understand! Thank you so much, Shimon!"

Princess Millennia bent down and gave the royal vizier a sudden, brief hug. He sighed in disappointment. How could he be such a push-over? One of these days he was going to lose his position because of this roguish girl! The princess then released him and pulled her cloak together in the front.

"I won't be long!"

She then ran through the dark halls and vanished into the blackness.

Shimon slumped to his knees and his face faulted.

"Oh, dear Ra, what have I gotten myself into?"

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The night was young as they say, and Princess Millennia made her way through the guards, posing as an irrelevant villager who had just wanted to have a quick word with the highly honored pharaoh. After getting past the front gates of marble like sandstone, she tossed her midnight cloak into the air, her figure emerging from the dark blanket. Afterwards, she raced into the wondrous city of lights, her copper strands of hair floating gracefully after her.

The soft taps of tambourines and strumming of mystifying strings from musical instruments could be heard throughout the bazaar. People gathered and children danced. In her amazement, the princess gasped in awe at the beauty of it. Everyone was so happy! She smiled at a group of small children that ran by her and they laughed in delight. Suddenly, the smallest child of the group and the last one of the group tripped and fell forward as the other children continued on ahead of him. He was covered in russet colored dust and clear tears formed in the corners of his innocent brownish eyes. He then began to cry, the other children not noticing, caught in their own carefree fun. Tears mixed in with the dust and sand on the boy's face as he began to sob and his cries ringing out.

Millennia gasped at the scene and looked down in sympathy at the crying boy. She then smiled a bit to herself and bent down on one knee next to the small child. She placed a gentle hand upon his little shoulder and in return, glassy eyes looked up into Millennia's blue eyes. His crying became small muffles as he tried to calm himself down, but then he lost control and began to cry again. The princess shook her head and lifted the boy to his feet by his tiny shoulders and he looked at her in surprise with his wide, chocolate colored eyes. The boy had minor scrapes about his elbows and knees and his arm covered his mouth and underneath his sniffling nose.

"Come on now, you're a big boy. You have to be brave and stand up when you fall."

She helped brush off the child's clothes as small particles of dust shot up. The boy had ceased his sobbing and stared at her in amazement. Millennia gave him a small smile of encouragement when she was done. The other children that the boy had been playing with earlier had stopped a few yards ahead and watched in curiosity. The boy looked over Millennia's shoulder and peered at them with wide eyes. The princess took notice of this and smiled at him.

"See? Your friends are waiting for you. Go play with them, ok?"

The boy blinked at her and then a wide smile slowly grew upon his now glowing face. He jumped in the air a little and spun around and began to laugh. He then ran away after his friends, all of them running and laughing. Millennia turned her head and chuckled softly to her own self. Was she really that little when she was at that age? Barely three and a half foot tall? How cute and innocent he was; she probably was the same.

"_Hm hm . . ."_

From afar in the crowds of people, a figure a few inches taller than six feet, cloaked in a crimson red robe and a tan robe underneath watched the incident. A muscular, tan chest was revealed and a deep purple Egyptian kilt was wrapped around the bottom of his torso. A tan headdress was placed over the top of the figure's head and sandy colored shoes were on his feet. The figure smirked fascinatingly at the girl who now stood up. She looked around the crowd inquiringly with her wide, cerulean orbs. The figure's violet orbs widened; how beautifully captivating her eyes were! The girl's eyes widened as well. What was this she sensed?

"_What a strong ka!"_

Then, at that instant, their eyes had made contact for a brief second; cerulean met violet. And then, the girl had disappeared into the waves of tans and browns of the vast crowd. The figure then tried to fight a licentious smirk, revealing ivory teeth and a demonic fang on the right side of his mouth, near the corner of his full lips. He wanted to get to know this girl . . .

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Millennia wandered through the crowds inadvertently, searching for something to do.

"Ah ha ha! I win! Now pay up!"

A boy with messy locks of golden blond hair in a ragged tan robe rejoiced in his seat behind a wooden table as a man opposite of him fell off the wooden crate he had been sitting on as his cards flew off the table and on top of him.

"Well? Where's my money?"

The almond eyed blond stood up and slammed his hands upon the table as he demanded his pay from the other man. The other man grumbled to himself and then stood to his feet and threw a small bag of coins on the table in front of the blond boy who had appeared to be no older than sixteen years old. Some of the metallic silver and gold coins had spilt out as the bag landed sloppily on the table. Then, a group of men walked over to the other man and began to listen to the sighs and rants of the man who had just lost to the boy. The blond boy watched them in sheer boredom and hunched over a bit.

"Hey! Men! Any other contenders? Does anyone else want to challenge me in a game or place a bet? Anyone of you dogs?"

The boy smirked at them mockingly as they growled in anger at his arrogance. The men turned toward him. The largest one stepped forward with an angry grunt. He wore a soot-stained kilt and had dirty wrappings around his right wrist.

"Listen up, boy. We know you were probably cheating the whole time. No one can win seven games in a row! Now give us back our money or we'll make sure you become well acquainted with utmost pain."

The rambunctious blonde thumbed his nose with a smirk and stood straight to his feet and jumped in front of the group of rough looking men. The five foot and ten inches boy then stood in a fighting position and looked the six foot and ten inches leader straight in the eyes.

"Fine! I'll take you all on!"

Just as he was about to take a step forward, a smaller girl about five foot and five inches, ran from behind him and locked his arms back.

"What?"

He looked back while trying to break free to see that it was a girl with deep, brown hair that ended a little below her chin and auburn red eyes had a hold of him.

"Anzu! Let me go! I can take them on!"

The brunette released the struggling blonde and he immediately turned around and faced her.

"Jonouchi! Were you gambling again? You always end up in fights after you do this! Just give back their money and let's go!"

The girl, dubbed Anzu, scolded the one called Jonouchi in a maternal way, even though she was clearly the same age as him. She sported a tattered, sand-colored outfit similar to the other young girls' of Egypt's attire. She was a petite girl, but her personality seemed just the opposite.

"Oh, come on, Anzu! If they're going to be sore about losing, then that's their problem! Let them act like the big oafs they are!"

That did it. Jonouchi's last comment was not too complimenting, which angered the group of men.

"That's it, boy! You're going down!"

With a swift punch, the man's right fist swooped down toward the wide eyed blond.

"Bam!"

To everyone's surprise, Millennia had appeared just in time and stood before the man, having just thrown a brittle, wooden chair at his fist, the man crushing it and missing Jonouchi. A veil of copper hair swayed around her slim figure and revealed angry, narrowed cerulean eyes.

The man roared in pain at his bloody knuckles as the rest watched in shock.

"Ha!" Millennia had taken hold of the man's bandaged wrist and twisted it, causing the man to scream even more. Jonouchi smirked as opportunity arrived, Millennia moving aside for the blonde to take care of the rest. He then grabbed the large man's twisted wrist and successfully flipped the man over on his back with a loud thud. The leader lay unconscious with the whites of his eyes showing as he stayed immobile on the dirt. Millennia stared down at him with a glower and Jonouchi smirked approvingly to himself. The rest of the men began to panic as the princess dangerously raised her blue orbs up to them and stood in a fighting position.

"Who's next?"

Her reply was a bunch of screaming cowards that ran away in the opposite direction, leaving their helpless leader behind. Millennia shook her head in disgust and placed her hands upon her hips.

"Worms . . . leaving their boss behind like that. Hmph."

She then turned toward the enthused Jonouchi and Anzu. Her expression dramatically changed in to a more lightened and innocent expression and smiled kindly toward the two.

"Are you two alright?"

Jonouchi and Anzu blinked at each other. Then, they exchanged glances of approval and returned the smile.

"You were amazing! Thanks so much for saving us!"

Anzu exclaimed gratefully at Millennia as Jonouchi mumbled to himself that he "Was the one that knocked the idiot out." He received a nudge from Anzu's elbow into his arm and yelped while massaging his now throbbing right upper arm.

"Erm- yeah! Thanks! But, how did you know that his wrist was his weak point?"

Jonouchi had been itching to ask this for a few moments as Anzu nodded in curiosity. Millennia smiled gladly at the two, more than happy to answer his question.

"Well, I had noticed the weakness in his right wrist, being wrapped that is. If you can twist the weak point, the enemy tends to focus more on the pain in that instead and lets down their guard, conveniently letting you do whatever you want to do for a split second in battle. It's basically strategy."

Millennia shrugged modestly at her explanation as Anzu and Jonouchi nodded coherently. Anzu then smirked at the tall blonde.

"Strategy . . . maybe you should try it sometime instead of brute strength like some dumb idiot."

"What was that?"

Jonouchi began to have veins popping out from his head in wrath as the two brunettes began to laugh. The shorter brunette then looked up at Millennia.

"Hey, you know what? You're not from round here, are you?"

Millennia blinked in surprise at her new friend's observation. Oh, right, the skin color. Shimon had warned her about that.

"Better be careful," Jonouchi added cautiously. "Just last week, a foreigner from a neighboring country had gotten stoned to death by some of the villagers here. No one is taking any chances with a non-local."

Millennia just shrugged carelessly with a small smirk across her lips.

"Don't worry about me! It's pretty dark out here, so no one will know the difference of whether I'm Egyptian or not."

The two Egyptian teens sighed at each other, but couldn't help but smile at this girl's audacity. Then, Anzu's auburn orbs widened, shocked with her own forgetfulness of a proper introduction.

"Oh! We almost forgot to introduce ourselves! I'm Anzu."

"Right! The name's Jonouchi!"

Both of the teens smiled cheerfully at the princess and Millennia smiled in return. Anzu began to speak some more.

"I'm glad that we're friends now! But- hey- you never told us your name."

Millennia's new friends waited inquisitively for a response, but then the blue eyed girl took notice overhead of the crowd. The guards at the gates of the palace began to take their shifts!

"Oh no! I have to leave now!"

She began to take off, but Anzu and Jonouchi looked at her in protest.

"Wait!"

Anzu called out to the princess, and Millennia slowed down her pace, but kept going and turned to face the duo as she ran.

"Meet us right here in this same spot tomorrow at noon! Right when the sun is brightest! We want to repay you with something for helping us!"

Millennia blinked, but then smiled cheerfully and nodded a yes. She then turned around and sprinted, vanishing into the crowd. Jonouchi and Anzu watched her fade into the crowd with half-hearted smiles.

"You think she'll even come?"

Jonouchi looked down at Anzu with questioning almond orbs. She returned his gaze with her wide, reddish-brown orbs.

"Of course she will!"

Anzu looked ahead where Millennia had run into the crowds. Her smile became more cheery, but she still mentally wondered . . .

"She seems so different . . . almost like there was some hidden power in her. A beautiful goddess . . . she never even told us what her name was . . ."

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The large, golden orb in the clear, azure sky shone brightly as its rays caressed the majestic kingdom of Egypt. Grandeur the abundant and fertile palace garden was. It was secreted behind the grandiose kingdom with its lush fruits and vibrant flowers that were not known by any of Egypt's people. It was a secret paradise, a haven of beauty for the royals. It was a place to get closer to nature itself, a place to grow in tranquility, a place to escape troubles, a place for trouble to escape . . .

"_Guh . . . ow . . . darn it . . ."_

A long, braided vine of green with small, scarlet flowers decorating it was thrown over the golden wall that surrounded the garden. Dangling from a few feet in the air, a cloaked figure in a tattered, tan robe which covered their body clung onto the vine with two slipping hands.

"_Almost . . . half . . . way . . . there . . ."_

The figure gritted their teeth in strain so that they bared their teeth. They were struggling to keep a hold onto the vine and slid a few centimeters down the natural rope every several seconds.

"_I must . . . meet . . . Anzu and Jonouchi . . ."_

Wide, blue eyes kept focus on the top of the wall while they thought over and over again of their ambition. One of the figure's slim, peach hands gripped higher onto the vine. A toothy smirk from under the figure's hood was the response to this improvement. The figure slowly slid the other hand up the vine before reaching a destination . . .

"What are you doing, princess?"

"WHAAAAAHHHH!"

The cloaked figure fell to the ground from half way up the wall and landed with a thud. Their cloak came floating after them and landed gently next to the jumbled body of Princess Millennia. A girl around her early teenaged years and smaller then the princess stood blinking at the incident. She wore small, tan shoes and a short, sand-colored dress which bared her shoulders and was trimmed in gold. The girl had a very unique Egyptian sunhat that matched her dress and covered the majority of the mass of dark chocolate locks upon her head. Her hair was thick and went down to the length of under her shoulder blades. The olive-skinned girl had cheerful, wide, navy blue eyes which revealed innocence and a sense of lightheartedness. Lined underneath her eyes was black kohl, an Egyptian cosmetic for the eyes that people used to block out the sun. After processing the fact that the princess just fell from the palace wall flat on her face, the girl began to panic.

"Aiyee! Oh my Ra! Princess Millennia, are you alright?"

The small brunette ran over to the swirly-eyed princess and bent down over her. She turned the dizzy princess over on her back and grabbed a hold of the older girl's fair shoulders and began to shake her lightly.

"Princess! I'm so sorry! Did I startle you while you were playing your game? Are you dead- are you hurt- are you unconscious- are you hungry?"

The girl began to comically sob rivers of tears as she cried out apologies to the motionless princess. Slowly, the princess' lips began to move as she regained her composure.

"Calm down . . . Mana . . ."

Millennia began to stand to her feet as the younger girl, Mana, began to panic again.

"Oh, princess, I'm really sorry!"

Millennia chuckled as she started to brush herself off. Mana's eyes grew wide when she took notice of the older brunette's attire. Millennia realized that the younger brunette was scrutinizing her unusual appearance in the same dress she had worn last night at the festival. Mana gave a double-take at the crumpled cloak behind the princess.

"Why are you dressed as a villager? -and you let your hair down! You never do that!" Mana leaned in closer to the princess with suspicious, narrowed, navy eyes, causing Millennia to sweatdrop in apprehension. "And why were you trying to climb up that vine in a cloak?" Then, it hit Mana as Millennia gasped in fear of being caught. "Wait a minute . . . Princess, were you trying to run away?" The Egyptian girl eyed Millennia warily as beads of sweat rolled down the princess' face like waterfalls.

"Well –I -ouch!"

Millennia winced and held her right hand in pain. Mana took the princess' hand and opened it to reveal a crimson stained palm.

"Oh, princess! You hurt yourself when you fell! Lucky for you, I'm a magician-in-training as you know. Here, I can heal it right away with the new spell I just learned today!"

In the cheerful manner that Mana was in, she held her own right hand out with a jovial smile. In a brief flash of light, a bright blue and pink wand with a golden swirl ornament on the top of it appeared in midair. The trainee magician caught it casually with her right hand and then held it before Millennia's bleeding hand. The princess watched with utmost interest, wondering what could possibly be next. With the flick of her wrist, Mana began to ceremoniously wave her wand in the air.

"Here I go! _Liquid of life_ _that runs upon thy skin, return to thy body and be sealed in thy flesh. Crimson of man, be-"_

Mana froze. Millennia blinked in curiosity. The young student magician examined her wand uneasily and gave Millennia a wavering smile of uncertainty. Millennia blinked again.

"What's the problem?"

Mana began to laugh nervously and placed her left arm behind her head as Millennia watched her.

"Um . . . well, you see it's quite funny! Uh, I kind of, well . . . I forgot the rest of the spell!"

Mana began to laugh even louder to herself as the princess sighed and sweatdropped.

"_Am I interrupting something?"_

Mana turned around with surprised eyes as Millennia waved cheerfully with her right hand, forgetting about it being injured.

A majestic, handsome looking young man about five feet tall stood before the two blue eyed brunettes with a cool smile plastered across his tanned face. He may have not been too tall, but his royal air of superiority and charm made up for the missing inches. He had eyes like jewels; two large amethysts smiled kindly at the girls. His attire was made up of a cream-colored, sleeveless shirt and layered on top of it was a golden wesekh, a collar worn by the rich. He wore a tan-white kilt with a long, light blue vertical cloth going down the center of it like a large stripe. He was wearing sand colored shoes usually worn by the royals. The elegant young man's legs and neck were wrapped in gold bands, along with his upper arms. Gold surrounded his shoulders and jeweled rings were bonded around some of his angular fingers. Golden earrings dangled from his ears with the ankh, a symbol for life, were engraved in them. His tri-colored hair of gold, black, and magenta stuck straight up and had a spiky look to it. A golden tiara with the millennium eye carved into it sat proudly across the man's forehead. To put it all together, a deep violet cape swayed behind the man. He glowed like an Egyptian god.

"Prince!-um, I mean, Pharaoh!"

Mana laughed nervously again, forgetting that the pharaoh had just become the ruler of Egypt recently and was having a hard time breaking the habit of calling him 'prince.' The pharaoh shook his head with a low chuckle at the girl.

"Mana, it's alright, you don't have to call me that when it's just us. We've been friends ever since childhood. We're like siblings."

Mana stopped her thoughtless laughing and smiled with a sigh of relief at her childhood friend's statement. The pharaoh then looked over at Millennia, who smiled gladly at him while waving her injured hand absentmindedly again.

"Um, good morning, Atem."

She made a toothy, slanted grin. Right when she wanted to escape secretly from the palace to meet her new friends again, it seemed as though _everyone_ had to show up at that same exact time! Atem on the other hand, looked at her with concern and rushed over next to her aid. He gently took her right wrist and laid her hand palm-up, on top of his other hand, revealing a mess of dried blood.

"What happened to you? You are bleeding!"

The young pharaoh gasped in alarm at the site. Mana stared down into the dusty ground she stood upon and shuffled her feet awkwardly as Millennia nervously tugged at her own collar with her opposite hand.

"I . . . fell. Not a thing to worry about!"

The princess pulled her hand away from Atem and mimicked Mana's nervous laugh from earlier with a sweatdrop. Atem cocked a suspicious eyebrow at the princess. Fortunately, Mana jumped in between the two and faced the pharaoh before he could conjure up an idea of how the princess fell and seeing a braided vine out of place and up the side of the palace wall.

"I tried to heal her with my magic, I really did! I shall try again, though!"

Then, the student magician closed her eyes and repeated her arm movements from earlier, flicking her wrist slightly with each movement. Then, the words flowed from her mouth like a stream of water.

"_Liquid of life_ _that runs upon thy skin, return to thy body and be sealed in thy flesh. Crimson of man, be-"_

Once again, Mana paused at the same spot from earlier. She had to admit it. She was stumped! Just before giving up on the spell, Atem chimed in.

"-be returned whence thou came from thy flowing veins of thy self."

The pharaoh smiled kindly at the young girl and she nodded cheerfully in understanding.

"_-be returned whence thou came from thy flowing veins of thy self."_

After Mana repeated Atem's words, a small orb of silver light was released from her wand and gently entered Millennia's open wound. In a matter of seconds, the dried blood had vanished and there was no sign of there ever being an injury. Millennia observed her hand with astonishment by turning it around before her face. She then looked at Mana and Atem with a satisfied grin of approval.

"Wow! It's all better now! Thanks, you two!"

Mana winked at her with a smile in return.

"It was not a problem, princess!"

The magician in training then looked over at Atem with a pouting expression across her face. Atem blinked at her in curiosity.

"Oh, prince– ah- pharaoh!"

She blushed at her mistake, but Atem gestured for her to continue.

"Uh-how come you know the spell already when you haven't been doing magic for years and I have been doing magic everyday, yet I cannot master all the basic spells?"

Atem sighed with a smile as Millennia sweatdropped with a nervous smile. The pharaoh then pointed his finger up as a teacher would.

"Well, Mana, I-"

Atem stopped in mid sentence, at a loss for words. Millennia and Mana waited for an answer. The pharaoh sighed.

"-I have no idea."

"Ah!"

The two brunettes collapsed to the ground at the 'almighty pharaoh's' response with sweatdrops. Atem began to laugh, and shortly afterwards, the two blue eyed girls joined in with him. As the laughter died down, Millennia and Mana stood to their feet.

Atem turned to Mana.

"When did Mahaad teach you this spell?"

Mana blushed in embarrassment and squatted down on the balls of her feet and began to move her pointer finger in a circular motion above the ground with her head lowered.

"Uh . . . this morning."

Atem became wide eyed in surprise and Millennia half-smiled with a sweatdrop. The pharaoh cocked one of his velvet eyebrows at the young girl.

"You . . . forgot the spell already?"

Mana fell backwards on the ground with a plop and sighed at the pharaoh's words.

"I-I'm still working on it! I will get it in time! I may not have learned it like you at a young age, but I still am Master's number one pupil!"

She stood proudly to her feet with a gleam in her navy blue orbs and hands placed on her hips. Millennia tried not to smirk, the laugh playing at the corners of her lips.

"Number one pupil?"

Mana literally jumped square in front of the princess with a defensive look upon her face.

"Well I don't see _you _performing any magic!"

Millennia opened her mouth to speak, but then sighed. Unfortunately, this was very true. She never learned any type of spell at all during her childhood or even now. Most of the time, she was taught how to be a proper young lady and be prepared to get married. The only times she had ever done anything different was when she lived back in her kingdom in Greece and her brother, Prince Andreas, now the current ruler and king of Greece, had secretly trained her in fighting one-on-one late at night for years. She had always wanted to also learn how to fight with a sword or some type of weapon, but her big brother claimed that it probably won't be necessary; he's already breaking enough rules by teaching her _any _type of fighting styles. Though, he was wed to a beautiful princess from another Greek province just two weeks ago and was too busy for her now. Even worse, her parents had this _wonderful_ idea of sending her away to some faraway country where nobody was very welcoming to new-comers only a few days after her brother's wedding. She had been in this palace for a week now, maybe a little longer. Millennia was told her whole life that she was to be married to Pharaoh Atem, king of Egypt. She was never too thrilled about having an arranged marriage, it just didn't seem right. However, when she went to live in the palace for a week, she came to know Atem and the royal court, becoming quite friendly with everyone. Even so, she was only _friends_ with Atem, and he even claimed that he felt the same way. There was nothing either of them could do, because of the law that Egypt's pharaoh must be wed by his twenty-first birthday. Atem and Millennia had an arranged marriage when they were both born to each other, but even so, everyday of her life, Millennia did not want her own life to be chosen for her. She had tried several times to escape the palace, all failed attempts, but now she couldn't come to leave. She had taken quite a liking to everyone here. Everything was just confusing. . .

"Princess, are you alright?"

Mana waved a hand in the princess' face as Atem blinked. Millennia's eyes widened and she blinked her cerulean orbs as Mana moved her hand from the older girl's face. Millennia shook her head and chuckled a bit when realizing that she had just been in a dazed state previously.

"I'm fine! I'm fine! I was just caught up in a reverie of the past I suppose."

Atem and Mana exchanged concerned glances, and then faced the princess. The amethyst eyed pharaoh folded his arms across his chest and slightly smirked.

"You too, hm? The reason I had come out here was to think over things, specifically the wedding. My birthday is only the day after tomorrow, and it's quite difficult to comprehend that I will be spending the rest of my days with someone I have only known for a week."

Millennia nodded in agreement; she was glad to hear the full extent of Atem's feelings about the situation. Likewise, the pharaoh continued.

"I don't know. It is almost like I am marrying . . . well . . . _my sister_. I hope that I am not offending you, Millennia. I believe we had gone over this before."

Mana looked guilty, like she had done something erroneous, keeping a fixed, navy blue gaze on the pharaoh. Millennia smiled childishly and placed her hands behind her head.

"Don't worry, as you already know, I feel the same way."

Atem sighed with a relieved smile, but Mana appeared disappointed. She began to fiddle with her petite wand.

"So . . . there won't be a wedding?"

Millennia and Atem blinked at her with their jeweled eyes and then began to laugh. Mana glared at them in frustration while throwing her arms up in the air.

"What's so funny? I'm being serious! Princess! Prince!"

Mana then clasped her hands over her mouth, once again forgetting to address Atem as 'Pharaoh.' However, Atem and Millennia just began to laugh even harder. Mana couldn't help but join in, realizing that no matter what she said now, it would be impossible to get the pharaoh and princess to regain their sanity at this time. The laughter began to fade and Atem finally took notice of Millennia's attire.

"Millennia, do you plan on going into the city?"

Millennia and Mana froze at the pharaoh's ability to realize what was going on. Atem waited for an answer as the two brunettes were attacked with sweatdrops. The young ruler raised his amethyst orbs toward the palace wall behind the girls, noticing the braided, flowered vine. He released a soft chuckle. Millennia and Mana were stiff in apprehension.

"Have fun and be careful."

"What?"

Both the blue eyed brunettes gaped at the pharaoh's reply. Did he just allow permission for the princess to go into the city? It had to be a dream! It just had to!

"Are . . . you serious, Atem?"

Millennia still couldn't grasp the fact that her friend was going to let her break the rules and get away with it. Atem nodded in reply to her question.

"I am guessing you went to the celebration in the city last night too since you were missing for quite some time here in the palace. I can't blame you for wanting to go back. If only I could go with you."

Atem let out a culpable smile as Millennia smiled considerately in return.

"Perhaps you two can come with me next time."

Atem's face lit up and Mana began to jump around, cheering and performing many acrobatic movements in the garden. Atem and Millennia watched her with sweatdrops. Millennia then remembered Anzu and Jonouchi. She grabbed her crumpled cloak which lay desolate on the ground and wrapped it around her body.

"Ah! Um-sorry! I think I better get going!"

Atem nodded in understanding and Mana gave her an encouraging thumbs-up. Before they knew it, the princess was half way up the vine she was originally climbing. Few of the scarlet petals from the flowers on the natural rope floated to the ground, one landing on Mana's nose, causing her to stare cross-eyed at it. Once or twice Millennia lost her grip, but Atem and Mana supported her to continue. Eventually, she reached the top, sitting on the wall while taking a deep breath. She flashed a thumbs-up at her friends, who were far down below her.

"I did it! See you two later tonight!"

After so, she disappeared behind the other side of the wall. Atem and Mana waved, but the pharaoh grew a sweatdrop.

"Later tonight? Millennia -wait!"

There was no reply. Both of them gazed up at the top of the wall. Something then occurred to Mana.

"How did she get down?"

The pharaoh and student magician stared into each other's eyes with utmost confusion.

"_A little help here!"_

Well, there was their answer. The princess' voice echoed throughout the garden area as her friends both sweatdropped at hearing the sound of her voice. Apparently, Millennia had been clinging to the top of the wall by her fingers, but not for long. There was silence.

"Princess?"

Mana called out reluctantly as Atem began to have beads of sweat roll down his olive toned face in concern. A comical scream rang out through the air. Once an unpleasant thud was heard, Mana and Atem gasped simultaneously. All that could be heard now was the song of the wind, the vivacious trees dancing with their green leaves glimmering in the golden sunlight.

"_I'm . . . alright!"_

"Ahh!" Atem and Mana performed an anime-styled fall onto the garden ground. Of course, there was no need to worry over such a person like Princess Millennia, not that it was necessarily a good thing. The shuffling of feet could be heard from outside the walls, so it was assumed that the absent-minded princess was leaving. Mana turned the pharaoh and sighed.

"I wonder if we will ever hear from her again."

Atem playfully pushed her shoulder lightly, so that the small girl lost her balance for a split second. She yelped, but then the two began to laugh jokingly.

"_My pharaoh, I have urgent news to tell you."_

A deep, masculine voice could be heard from behind the two and their laughter ceased. Atem and Mana turned around to face one of the high priests, who was on bended knee in reverence toward the pharaoh.

"Master!" gasped Mana in surprise. She hadn't expected to see her teacher here and wondered if he had seen the whole incident of Millennia leaving the garden. Her master gazed up at the two with narrow, mauve colored eyes outlined in kohl. He wore a tanned headdress decorated with a golden adornment over his forehead. Through the headdress, strands of light sienna hair could be seen and some caressed the man's bronze colored face. Dressed in an all tan shirt and long kilt and matching shoes, gold embellishments decorated his attire along his arms, legs, and shoulders. A light tan cape was draped behind his crouched figure. Hanging from an ocher colored rope across his chest was a large, golden ring. A pyramid with the millennium eye was engraved into the pyramid and along with that, gold spikes dangled from the bottom of the ring, each one resembling a douser's pendulum. This was a Millennium item; one of the seven objects used to protect the kingdom. This was one of the high priests . . . a master magician . . . this was-

"Mahaad? What's wrong?" Atem questioned his other childhood friend with worry masking over his facial expression. The high priest sustained his stern, mauve gaze into the pharaoh's amethyst orbs of distress.

"For some reason, our security has failed again. My most sincere apologies, pharaoh." Mahaad breathed heavily, trying to keep his calm composure. Mana's expression showed that she knew something good was not going to be the result of this news. Atem blinked his crystal eyes and bent down in front of Mahaad on one knee like he was. They were friends after all; Atem was never much for the ranking system.

"Please continue."

"I do not know how . . . none of us high priests do . . . though I am the one to blame, for I am ahead of security, pharaoh. However, a demon is lurking in our kingdom . . . the city more precisely. He is among the people. He has returned."

"Mahaad, who are you talking about?" Atem's amethyst orbs flashed spirals of questions, though only this one in particular stood out. Mahaad took a deep breath, his purple eyes darkening, and replied in a low voice.

"The Thief King Bakura . . ."

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Streams of gold streaked across the city of Cairo, the sun's harsh rays striking the city as darts. Ra was glowering down on the kingdom, as the villagers would say, for this was probably the worst heat the city has had in a long time now. The bazaar was very busy, with greedy merchants counting their money behind their stands and boisterously shouting their prices and must-buy items in a sort of competition to see who could attract the most attention. People crowded around stalls selling palm leaves, jugs of water or anything that could relieve them from the heat; the merchants and traders were more than happy to give the people these items for a price and the people didn't care, as long as they got what they wanted. How weak minded people could be, to plunge into desperation for money or riches, giving up their human pride and dignity to do so. That's what a certain, cloud-white haired, violet eyed man thought at the least while he wandered through the busy market place.

"Yes, the fools who demean their own humanity and give it up for the means of survival . . . disgusting creatures . . ."

Skillfully snatching an unguarded red apple off of an arbitrary stand, the man wandered through the crowds. Beads of sweat clung to his silken bangs, which few droplets rolled down his tan face and over a three-lined scar over his right eye. Standing at over six feet tall and with a muscular build, he could be considered quite fearsome. A short sleeved, beige robe wrapped around his body, but revealed a trimmed chest. A deep purple kilt that reached down to the man's knees swayed freely as he walked forward and on his feet were royal shoes of tan. A dark lavender sash encircled his waist to keep the robe together. Bound to his ankles were golden cuffs which could be mistakenly thought from the palace. Gold, jeweled rings were worn around the man's masculine fingers and expensive, gold bracelets dangled from his wrists. He was undeniably a handsome character despite a few rough features; even so, they improved his striking appearance.

Taking a crisp bite from the lush fruit with his sharp, ivory fangs, the man made his way casually through the crowded bazaar. The aroma of burning flesh could be sensed in the air now, as large pieces of meat hung from their stables and fresh meat could be seen behind the stands; the pools of blood from the hacked meat could be visible and the stench was overwhelming. Ah, oh yes. How he could sink his teeth into that tender flesh right now and savor the salty taste of that crimson liquid. How he longed to have a feast! It had been so long since he had had any real food; scrounging around for small provisions grew tiring after awhile. He bet the pharaoh could have whatever he wanted, when he wanted. How he loathed such a vile being . . . he could not bear to stand the thought of a murderer's son enjoying the pleasures that _he_ deserved to have! To dine on gourmet meals every single night and have everything he desired! How the rich could live in dreams while the rest of humanity had to suffer in reality. The selfishness of it all . . . he hated humans, hated people. They were all stupid and morbid creatures, lack-luster beings that lived out repetitious lives and died without any significance whatsoever and forever to be forgotten. For example, he walked among them so freely and easily, the _monster_ who had destroyed a good portion of the city only a few weeks ago! How they could simply let the murderer of many of their people walk around like this! They did not notice him; the fools had no idea who he even was! However, he was here to gain something that he had promised to take. The Millennium Ring, if you please. Another trip to the palace was called for, one he was sure the pharaoh and his royal court would certainly not anticipate.

However, he had arrived here last night during the festivities after coming from a tomb raiding more up north. Dressed in his prized, crimson cloak, he had arrived back in Cairo on horseback, pursued by his followers. Wanting to join in on the fun, he had decided to visit the bazaar here in secret, leaving his supporters behind. As he wandered aimlessly through the crowds of oblivious people, he had, only but for a split second, came across a girl with a power quite irresistible. Though, she had no power; it felt concealed, locked. Alas, how he wanted to see her again! To find out what this sensation of power was! That is, if there was any in the first place. Perhaps he had imagined it; perhaps not.

However, time was wearing thin. _"Time to go give the pharaoh another visit . . . maybe not yet."_ The thief king tossed the slim core of his finished apple carelessly behind him and eyed a small pub next to him. A smirk spread out across his smooth lips. On the other hand, it may be quite amusing to have a warm-up session first . . .

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"If she doesn't get here sooner, then the flies will get to the piece of fruit we bought for her. I suppose she forgot after all . . . "

Holding two carmine pomegranates, one bitten and the other in perfect condition, Anzu sighed to herself in disappointment and leaned her back up against a stone wall of a clay building at the spot she and Jonouchi met their new friend last night at the celebration. Jonouchi squatted down next to her and bit into a juicy, alizarin pomegranate, some of the juices flowing down the corners of his mouth. Anzu glared at him and scolded him silently for his lack of manners. The golden blonde half smiled at the brunette, bearing a toothy, red-stained grin.

"Don't worry, Anzu! She might come, and if she doesn't, then may Ra strike her directly from the heavens and let the gods Osiris, Anubis and Thoth sentence her to be devoured by Ammut!" The boy began to laugh into hysterics at his own words. Anzu was not too pleased and stomped her foot in irritation at his ridiculous terminology.

"Jonouchi! How can you say that about our friend? Do you feel no shame in cursing the person who had helped you fight those men last night?" Anzu glowered threateningly at the almond eyed boy. The boy wiped his mouth upon his sleeve and then stood to his feet and placing his right hand over his eyes, as if he was searching for something in the crowd ahead of him. Anzu blinked her auburn orbs at him. Did he see her coming?

"Jonouchi, do you see her?" Anzu stood on her toes and mimicked Jonouchi's actions. The blond boy winced into the crowd and stood on his toes. His eyes then widened in excitement.

"Hey, I think I see her! She's coming this way!" Jonouchi exclaimed in excitement, causing the brunette's face to be enlightened.

"Really?" The girl jumped up and down in exhilaration while swiftly turning her head from side to side to search her surroundings. Jonouchi couldn't help but smirk at her, and while Anzu was focused on looking for Millennia, the blond haired teen quickly grabbed the extra pomegranate from the shorter girl and held the fruit high above his head with a childish smirk plastered across his face, and replying to Anzu, "No."

"Jonouchi! That belongs to our new friend!" Anzu shouted at him in anger while struggling to grab the fruit from his hand. Since there was quite a difference between their heights, Jonouchi laughed playfully at the persistent girl attempting to take the fruit back from his high up reach.

"Well, apparently it's mine now since she isn't here!" He had spoken too soon, because from behind him, he had felt the pomegranate leave his hand.

"Well, apparently it's mine now since I _am _here," a feminine voice was heard from behind the two. Anzu smiled enthusiastically toward where the voice was heard and Jonouchi turned around and nervously half smiled with a sweatdrop.

"Good afternoon, Anzu . . . Jonouchi," Millennia smirked while taking a bite into the luscious fruit. Jonouchi moped in disappointment and Anzu bopped him in the head, causing the boy to yelp while grabbing his head.

"Good afternoon, um, er . . . you never told us your name," the auburn eyed brunette stated as the almond eyed boy blinked in puzzled agreement. Right then and there, Millennia froze with a sweatdrop. _"Ack!"_ What was she supposed to say now? That she was a Greek princess engaged to Egypt's pharaoh? How believable was that, despite it being the truth? Evidently, that's just about _almost_ what she was going to say.

"Erm . . . if you really want to know . . . uh-it's Millennia . . ." She replied hesitantly, holding her breath in tension. She received two blank stares from her friends. Did they figure it out?

"Millennia . . . that's an odd name," Jonouchi stated bluntly. Anzu stomped on the boy's foot and he began to jump around in pain while holding it.

"Don't listen to him; I think it's a nice name! Where are you from by the way? I know that isn't a very common name," Anzu added with interest. Millennia smiled with a sigh of relief.

"_That was a close one."_ The cerulean eyed princess then smiled and replied. "Well, actually, I'm from Greece . . . somewhere . . . there . . ." She began to laugh nervously at her vague answer while Anzu and Jonouchi exchanged eyebrow raising glances. Millennia had finally noticed their puzzled expressions and ceased her apprehensive laughter. Wow, she felt like such a fool.

"So, what do you two want to do first?" The princess asked, trying to change the awkward mood. "We could do things that normal people do! That would be so much fun!" Once again, she received weary glances from Anzu and Jonouchi.

"_Normal_ people?" Jonouchi raised a confused eyebrow at Millennia, now becoming quite suspicious.

"Uh- did I say _normal_ people? I meant to say _nomadic _people!" Millennia masked her face with a wide grin as Anzu and Jonouchi sighed with sweatdrops.

"_Crap!"_

Far back in the crowd, Millennia could see the people getting down on their hands and knees . . . bowing . . . to Priest Seto! His headdress could easily be spotted, along with the group of guards backing him up. But what was he doing here right now? Could he possibly be looking for her? No! She didn't want to go back to the palace just yet! For Ra's sake, she just got here!

"Are all Greeks like this?" Jonouchi craned his neck down to Anzu's ear and whispered with question, Anzu tugging his ear down hard in reply. Anzu's auburn orbs widened in realization and peered past Millennia. "Hey, what's going on up there?"

Millennia jolted nervously in her spot and then turned around to face her friends. She quickly finished off her pomegranate and then took a few steps past Anzu and Jonouchi.

"Well, I better leave. Maybe we can be together longer next time! Bye for now and thanks for the food!" Immediately after saying this, the princess took off, leaving a puzzled Jonouchi and Anzu behind watching her.

"Hey -wait!" Anzu called after her, but Millennia did not turn back. Jonouchi folded his arms in confusion. "How come she always takes off like that?" He pondered aloud upon this while Anzu thought aloud to herself.

"Millennia . . ."

"Millennia?"

"What?" The brunette shook her head and looked up in front of her to see the masculine voice that had repeated her. A man stood before her with narrow, azure eyes and a tanned complexion. Mainly in blue and gold, his royal outfit was quite luxurious. A blue and gold headdress sat upon his head, hiding all of his hair. At hand, he held a golden rod with the millennium eye carved into a winged sphere on top of it. He was a very attractive man, well built and a flawless face. Anzu and Jonouchi could not help but gaze into his hypnotizing eyes.

"H-High Priest Seto . . ." Anzu gasped, thoughtlessly getting ready to bow down, though stopped as the azure eyed high priest placed a hand up in protest.

"Do you two villagers know where we may find Princess Millennia, may I ask?" Seto questioned the gaping Anzu and Jonouchi.

"**Princess **Millennia?" The blond haired boy gasped in shock, stepping forward before the high priest. Seto scowled at the boy, quickly not growing fond of him.

"Yes, Princess Millennia. Have you not been listening, you mediocre boy?" Seto glowered down into the blond boy's almond orbs. Anzu tried to suppress a laugh as many veins bulged from Jonouchi's forehead.

"Mediocre? Ok, let me give you a piece of my mind, you-" Right before the fiery blond could finish his sentence to reach some sort of profane insult, Anzu had punched the blonde squarely underneath his jaw and knocking him down to the ground.

"Thank you for shutting up that barking dog," Seto nodded at the brunette coolly, infuriating Jonouchi even more as he struggled to get to his feet. Anzu placed her hands on her hips and eyed Seto suspiciously.

"Princess Millennia is not in any trouble, is she?" The auburn eyed brunette asked in concern. She was not just about to tell _anyone_ where her friend was if they were going to be punished, princess or not. Seto frowned upon the girl's inquisitiveness; perhaps she and the dog were an acquaintance of the princess. "Not in the means you or she may presuppose. The princess is needed at the palace instantaneously. Please, if you may have any initiative of her whereabouts, it would be most appreciated by the pharaoh and his royal court."

Jonouchi began to tug on Anzu's sleeve, and shaking his head in a 'no' gesture. "Jonouchi, this is important the high priest says!" The brunette whispered admonishingly to the almond eyed boy. The blond teen growled at her and then stood before Seto with an annoyed expression across his face, pointing his right pointer finger toward the right side of him. "Listen up, rich boy! Even if we did know that she went that way, we would never let you know! So, there!" Crossing his arms in satisfactory across his slim chest, Jonouchi closed his brown orbs with a smug smirk and nodding approvingly to himself. The high priest casually replied, "Thank you for your assistance, mediocre dog," before turning around and heading off with his guards to where Jonouchi had pointed absent-mindedly. After a moment, the blonde's eyes were wide opened and gaping like a fish, he watched the high priest walk away. The high priest then stopped and turned toward Jonouchi.

"Oh, yes, one more thing. With a sharp tongue like that, I can easily have you executed. However, since I'm such a nice person, maybe next time." And with that, Seto and his guards continued down the clear bazaar, every person bowing down on their hands and knees; some glared at Jonouchi for his disrespect. Anzu blushed in embarrassment and the blonde boy bared vicious fangs at the scolding people. Grabbing him silently by the shirt collar, the small brunette dragged a struggling Jonouchi away from the quiet street. Anzu couldn't believe it; not only had she spoken with one of the high priests of the pharaoh's court, but had found out her mysterious new friend was a princess! How often does that all happen in one day? Now she knew why Millennia had always seemed like she was always in such a hurry. But no matter now, she just hoped Millennia would be alright . . .

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"Whew . . ."

Millennia sighed right after closing an old, wooden door behind her and leaned back against it. She wondered how Seto found out that she was missing. Did Atem or Mana tell him? She couldn't blame them; they were probably worried about her safety. It's just she wanted to be free of the restraints the palace had bound her to for just a day, or maybe less! It has only been a few hours, maybe not that long. Well, what could she do? Run and hide from them forever? Exactly.

Levitating her cerulean orbs off of the dirty floor and into her surroundings, she noticed how filthy the atmosphere was. The stench of alcohol was unbearable in the air and drunken idiots laughed amongst their friends and others they most likely didn't even know. Wonderful. Out of all the places she could have randomly waltzed right into, it just so happened to be a _bar_! She cringed at watching everyone gamble and throw indiscriminate objects at the walls or at other people. She _really_ wanted to get out of this place. Turning around toward the door, she suddenly felt an oily hand grab her right shoulder, causing her heart to skip a beat.

"Hm hm . . . well what'cha doin' here, little girl?" Millennia turned her head up to face a man twice her size, length and width. His face was covered in facial hair and his dark eyes seemed disorientated. The odor of wine hovered from his mouth, making the princess nauseated. Behind him were two other men, most likely his 'buddies' and most likely were also drunk losers. Millennia glared at the man while trying to hold her breath simultaneously.

"Remove . . . the . . . hand," she said slowly for him to process properly for the moron he was. He did not take this comment too well.

"Whad'ju say?" The man then slammed Millennia's back up against the hard, wooden door, causing a loud booming sound throughout the bar, but no one had seemed to notice. He held her against the door with both of his hands gripping her forearms. She winced at the pain while gritting her bared teeth. Barely escaping her lips, the princess added a snide remark.

"You . . . don't intimidate me . . . scoundrel . . ." Millennia couldn't help but smirk at her own comment and the man's blank expression. Steam blew out of the man's ears as his greasy face turned red. "Why, you little tramp, I'll teach you a lesson-" The barbaric man raised his large hand in the air, ready to strike. Millennia gasped at his action and froze in shock. What could she do now?

". . . . . . . . . . . . ." In a brief moment, the drunken man froze with perplexity consuming his face. Behind him a tan, jewel-covered hand took hold of the big lout's wrist. "Guh . . . guh . . ." He struggled to gasp any audible words while a mass of light purple, ivory hair could be seen behind him. The mass of hair lifted, and revealed a pair of piercing violet eyes.

"- yes . . . a lesson to well be remembered, my good sir." A wolfish smirk engulfed the mysterious man's tan face, causing Millennia to blink her cerulean eyes in curiosity. The drunken man sneered at the violet eyed man. "Ya don't say? Boys, get'em!" There was no response. The man growled impatiently, releasing Millennia and turning half way around so his arm wouldn't be twisted by the other man. To his contempt, the two other men that were backing him up earlier were now gone. He cursed under his breath and snarled in wrath. The ivory haired man chuckled darkly.

"I'm guessing your lackeys decided to not stick around for your . . . _lesson_," he dangerously chuckled, stressing 'lesson' with malice in his voice. The larger man's face was showing signs of extreme stress; drunk, yet aware of the situation. The other man ceased laughing, and a wide smirk revealing demonic fangs took its place. With a swift movement of his hand, he twisted the man's wrist with a crack. The man roared in utmost pain, and before he knew it, was flipped onto a table behind them where gamblers played cards . . . well, _were_ playing cards. It came down with a crash, cards flying and drinks being smashed onto the floor, toxic liquid pouring onto the flooring and splattering upon unaware people. The man laid there moaning in pain and other people stared and shouted at Millennia and her savior. Millennia blinked in surprise; she had to admit, that was quite impressive. Slowly walking over to the unconscious man, she gave him a hard kick in the side, causing him to grunt. The princess turned to the violet eyed Egyptian and smirked with a nod. He, on the other hand, frowned at her disapprovingly. The princess' expression grew puzzled, wondering why he seemed so angry with her.

"Take this, broad!" Sweatdropping in shock after a mug of beer barely missed her head, the ivory haired man grabbed her wrist and ran, taking her into a separate room of the bar, away from the wrathful, chaotic drunks. She choked on the even worse smell of this room, though she had to admit, it was a whole lot quieter, but darker. Squinting her blue orbs, she realized that they were inside the room where the alcoholic beverages were stored. The room was shrouded in dust, making her cough some more. She felt a strong tug on her arm and was pulled down to the ground on her knees. Sitting before her was the man that had helped her, his violet eyes luminescent in the darkness. Millennia was then feeling herself becoming lost in them; such clearness, yet vagueness. It was almost like he concealed some hidden power, something unknown, dark. She suddenly realized he had turned his head away from her. She shook her head to break away from the reverie. He saved her, yet seemed so uninterested in asking if she was alright.

"Um . . . thank you so much, sir. I really appreciate what you had done for me back there. If there is anything I can-" Millennia noticed that he was not even paying attention to her. She sighed under her breath. How could someone be so ignorant? She opened her mouth again to speak, but was interrupted by the other man.

"Go around the back of the room and there should be a door there. It will lead you behind the store and outside into the bazaar."

Millennia gaped in surprise. "You know your way around here pretty well, don't you? For some strange reason you remind me of that thief king . . . Bakura, I think his name was. Have you ever heard of him?"

The fluorescent eyed man gazed lazily at her, and then replied, "I don't know." He stood up to leave the room and the princess stood up next to him. "You have a strong ka. I can feel it."

This caused the man to freeze. He had only saved this girl because he remembered her gaze last night . . . and he sensed a possible strong ka from her, a possible power-boost for his own ka. The only way to make sure was to keep her alive for now. He had no idea that she could sense his ka, Diabound. Was his ka _that _immeasurably powerful? It wouldn't surprise him, of course. He raised a suspicious eyebrow at her. "Where are _you_ from, exactly?"

Millennia gulped and began to sweat nervously. "Um . . . the palace. I'm-uh- a servant there." She hoped that he would be able to believe this. He gave a small smirk in reply. "Oh, really . . . farewell, then." The violet eyed man then casually walked out of the room, his tanned cloak swaying behind him. Millennia watched, mesmerized. She wondered who he was . . . oh, right! Speaking of the palace, she had to get moving! Making her way behind dusty shelves of many different kinds of alcohol in jars, she found a fragile looking door and lifted the brittle lever which was used to keep the door locked. It creaked uneasily, causing her eyes to instantly open wider. Continuing to open the door, a ray of light was released into the room. She shielded her blue eyes with her other arm that was not pushing open the door, trying to block the blinding sun from her vision. To her dismay, she was met with several silhouettes.

"Well, this is convenient." The front figure commented nonchalantly. Millennia gasped in surprise at the unfortunate situation.

"Priest Seto?"

Seto nodded responsively at her, and then placed a bronze hand on her dusty shoulder.

"Princess, you must come back to the palace with us immediately. It is extremely urgent for you to come," the high priest explained to her calmly. Millennia shook her head in protest. "But I can't! Not now! Why must it not wait until later, Seto?" The princess objected with rebellious eyes. Seto gazed into her cerulean orbs with his azure ones.

"Princess . . . it is your brother."

_

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__I hope that everyone enjoyed the first chapter! By the way, 'diaha' is Egyptian for 'duel,' just for incase you didn't know n.nI will try to get the next chapter up soon, even if this fic doesn't do too well. Reviews would be appreciated, they keep an author motivated! Until then . . . "Duel! Stand by!" – Lol, I couldn't resist to add Anzu's episode closing quote XD _

_Edited on 2/24/06 for corrections._


	2. Cerulean hates Violet

**Cerulean Violet Sands**

_**Disclaimer** Once again, I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh, blah blah blah, you get the picture._

_**Author's Note **What's up, guys? Whew, this took some time to finish, and I'm really sorry about the long time to update! But the good news is that chapter 2 of this fanfic is finally up! Yay! Ha ha, well if it makes up for the lack of updating and you enjoy sitting down to read for a long time, then I believe you will be happy to hear that this chapter is . . . the same amount of pages as the last chapter! (How did _that _happen? O.o) I hope you enjoy this chapter and have lots of good ol' fun reading it! _

_**(One more thing I'd like to add: In chapter one, I realized that I had referred to Shimon as a 'high priest.' Actually, he is supposed to be the pharaoh's royal vizier. I apologize for this mistake, and I will go back and try to change it. However, from this chapter on he will be referred to as the royal vizier. Thanks for understanding!)**_

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****Diaha! Two-_Cerulean Hates Violet_**

The confusion . . . dread . . . anger . . . the hurt. Pharaoh Atem sat glumly upon his throne, his usually charming facial features now presenting a depressing darkness, his jeweled eyes' lacking of spark, and his hands, clammy and nervous. The empty throne room didn't help lighten the mood either. He was not looking forward to seeing Millennia. Not at all. He knew that this news he was to give her was not going to be joyous, and he did not want to see her in agony. Though unfortunately, he was pharaoh. It was his job to tell her the truth, even if it would cause her great pain. Gritting his pearled teeth in frustration, he subconsciously gripped the hardened, gold arms of his throne until his smooth, tanned knuckles turned white. Atem was wondering which would break first, his teeth or the throne, but his thoughts were interrupted when he suddenly felt a gentle hand be placed upon his shoulder. His tenseness loosened and the startled king shot a glance up at the being that stood beside him to his left. Gentle, sapphire orbs gave him a comforting, maternal gaze.

"It will be alright, my pharaoh."

"Isis . . ."

Atem gasped at the elegant priestess standing beside him. No matter what the situation was, her demeanor always expressed serenity. Long, ashen hair was hidden underneath a beige veil and a winged, gold ornament framed her delicate, tan face. She fashioned a matching dress with gold and turquoise, wrapping around her waist and below her collar bone. A small, beige cloak sat upon her shoulders and surrounded her slim frame from the hips up. One noticeable accessory the priestess revealed was a golden item that sat above her collar bone and shaped into an eye. It was attached to a piece of sienna string and was worn so as a necklace. She was a beautiful woman with an air of mystery, and a likeness to the goddess, Isis. A sight for sore eyes she was, to say the least.

"My apologies, for entering your most sacred courtroom without your consent, pharaoh." The woman, dubbed Isis, gracefully floated away from Atem, her long gown drifting behind her. She kneeled before him in the center isle of the room. One slender hand clenched to her chest while on bended knee and her other hand to her side, her soft fingertips gently pressing against the floor. She bowed her head in reverence and began to speak, Atem watching closely in anxiousness.

"I have received news from Seto." Once that was said, footsteps could be heard clicking into the throne room. The pharaoh removed his gaze from the priestess and caught sight of the footsteps which had came in so abruptly. Two men in royal garbs of priests made way toward the center of the aisle where from Isis sighed at the interruption.

"Pharaoh! I have urgent news!" The one man exclaimed as he and the other man kneeled on both sides of the priestess. The man who had last spoken was in possession of a golden item resembling an ankh, but along the sides of it were small teeth, as on a key. A large insignia of a deep midnight black was plastered across his forehead in a sort of design and, as many of the Egyptians in the kingdom, lacked hair above his head. Golden earrings shaped like hoops were hung from his ears. He was dressed in beige-white robes with matching shoes and his arms were covered in gold bands. Dark olive was his complexion and the man possessed hypnotizing, cobalt eyes. The other priest was a much more built man, with a large physical appearance, but an even larger heart. He wore a white sash across his chest and a matching kilt and shoes along with it. His eyes were a grayish blue-green tone and his skin was a dark tan. This priest had velvet black hair that went down to underneath his chin and a slim, gold band encircled his head. In his hand, was a golden scale with two plates on both sides as if to weigh something physically immeasurable. The second and third priests of the pharaoh's court had arrived.

"Er-please continue, Shada," Atem reluctantly encouraged the priest to speak while Isis gave an impatient glare at the oblivious Shada. The man with the golden ankh cleared his throat with a brief cough.

"Thanks to Isis' ka, Spiria, we have located Seto and his royal guards. His message had been relayed to us, that he had found the princess and she is being brought back here as we speak."

The pharaoh then shifted uncomfortably in his throne chair, hoping that he could just have a little more time before speaking with Millennia. Oh well, there was nothing he could do now, except for waiting upon his friends' arrival. Most likely once she got here, it would be expected of him, as the pharaoh, to explain the situation to his future queen. This was not going to be easy, and it was hard for _him_ to hear it at first. How would Millennia react?

"My pharaoh, is everything alright?" Atem immediately snapped out of his daydream at the sound of Shada's voice.

"Yes-everything is fine, thank you, Shada." The pharaoh rubbed his temple in frustration; how could everything be _fine_? The third high priest turned his head toward Isis, who seemed a bit exhausted.

"Oh! Were you about to speak to the pharaoh before we had arrived, Isis?" The man smiled moderately at the woman's smooth face. Isis forced a gentle smile upon her lips and faced the priest next to her, regaining her patient demeanor.

"To say the truth, Karim, I was about to tell the pharaoh the same exact news Shada had just spoken." Isis smiled kindly at the pharaoh calmly as the one named Karim smiled apologetically at the high priestess. Shada, on the other hand, coughed nervously into his fist with a slight blush of embarrassment tinting his bronze face. Atem couldn't help but dismiss his high priests' misunderstanding, finding the whole event fairly amusing. He let a half-smile creep upon his lips and let out a slight chuckle, his officials joining in shortly afterwards.

"_Bam!"_

As if on cue (or not so on cue), the two large doors of the throne room slammed open, an evening sky of twilight emerging inside. A large cluster of blackness was in the doorway, appearing to be a group of moving shadows. In the lead was Shimon, walking at a swift pace into the courtroom, and a crowd of guards behind him. "Pharaoh! We have the princess here at this moment and her majesty is free from harm! Praise Ra!"

The elderly vizier jovially walked next to the pharaoh's right side and cheerfully patted the top of the pharaoh's hand, which lay on top of the right armrest to the throne. Atem blinked at the enthusiastic man as a bead of nervous sweat rolled down his olive face. The guards began to line up along the sides of the isle as Priestess Isis and Priest Shada stood side by side to the front left of Atem and Karim stood to the front right of him. Coming up the isle were High Priest Seto, and an apprehensive Millennia following closely behind him. Seto slightly kneeled before the pharaoh as Millennia stood a few feet back behind him and more into the isle.

"Pharaoh . . . we have recovered the princess." With that brief explanation, the azure eyed man had then taken a place to stand between Priestess Isis and Priest Shada. Atem nodded in reply, trying to conceal a knowing smirk behind his staid expression. Soft footsteps were heard coming from the isle, apparently belonging to Millennia. She walked forward in front of the pharaoh with concern burning in her cerulean orbs. What was wrong? What had happened to her brother? The princess stopped before the throne and held her arms strictly to her sides while clenching her fists. The brunette was attempting to brace herself, but even she wondered if that would be enough. She cleared her throat to speak, though she really didn't need to do so. She could talk to Atem about almost anything; they were friends after all. Why did she feel so nervous now? Is it possible that she may be too afraid to speak in front of so many people about a personal situation? Or was it the situation itself that she feared?

"Atem, I-" Before she could finish, the princess sweatdropped at Shimon's scolding, wide eyes and all of the other priests' matching facial expressions of appall. Millennia then chuckled nervously to herself, and then rolled her eyes in amusement at the reactions she received. "Forgive me . . . _pharaoh_, but I have only just one question to ask before we begin."

Everyone watched the princess intently as Atem did the same, wondering what was about to be asked. The amethyst eyed pharaoh hoped that she wasn't angry with him for telling his priests that she had left; he had just wanted her to come back to hear about the word on her brother. He gulped and took a deep breath, prepared for anything. Millennia's lips separated to speak.

"When is dinner?"

". . . . . . . . . . . . . . ."

Ever hear of that saying that states, "Silence is golden?" In this case, we'll just call it an assortment of colors.

"Dinner?" Atem blinked with a sweatdrop as everyone else in the courtroom did so. Millennia smiled guiltily, but then placed her hands to her hips and grinned broadly.

"Correct! Wow, am I starving! It _is_ pretty hard to go on with out eating for hours!" The princess stated matter of fact as everyone in the courtroom began to develop migraines. Priest Seto, one who isn't too big on foolishness, or fools for that matter, took a deep breath and supposedly counted to ten.

"If I understand you correctly, _princess_, you are about to find out news on your only brother, and all you can think of now . . . is food?"

". . . why not?"

This was going to be a long night. In the meantime while Millennia began to annoy Seto and the court watched the scene impatiently (Atem fell asleep on his throne . . .), Shimon had suspiciously taken notice of the absence of two of the high priests, leaving Karim to stand alone on the right while Isis, Seto, and Shada stood to the left. There were unoccupied spaces.

"_I wonder where Mahaad has gone off to . . ." _He thought while gazing into Karim's direction. He also took note of the next, and final, missing priest.

"_What is this? He is never late and has never been late for a court discussion . . . for all of these years. What is going on . . . Akunadin?"_

bdbdbdbdbdbdbd

The palace halls were shrouded in darkness, the night consuming twilight. Though very faint, immense movement could be seen as two even darker shadows jostled around, a few slams being heard here and there.

"_Rip-" _

Suddenly, a piece of fine, royal mauve cloth had fallen to the hallway floor, floating gently on top of the crimson red rugs. A small cry was heard from the taller one of the enigmatic figures, and the other had the taller one lifted up by the collar of his to be revealed mauve, royal robes, a piece of it missing from where a strong, bronze fist clenched the delicate, silky material.

"_Slam!"_

The shadowy, purple figure was pinned up to the wall by a cloaked, dark figure, whose only features visible were his eyes-or in this case-eye-for the fact that his other dark blue eye was missing and replaced with a golden item shaped into a peculiar eye. The other figure, at the cloaked figure's mercy, grabbed the other silhouette's fist clenched to his collar with both of his hands, knuckles turning pale white, which had made his already grey hands even more ghost-like. The mauve figure gritted their teeth in aggravation, and appeared distressed, their eyes still covered by the shadows. Beads of sweat rolled down their face and their legs had kicked around in midair for a split moment, but then gave up to the other figure's strength. They panted hot breaths of air while the cloaked figure's blue eye burned a wrathful burgundy.

"We made a deal!"

The cloaked figure then dragged the other figure harsh fully slow down against a brighter part of the wall, so they could speak face to face in the moon's light. They were now at eye level, and the cloaked figure turned out to be a man in a taupe-colored hooded cloak and matching royal shoes who appeared to be around Shimon's age. However, he seemed much taller and fit and his bronze face was covered with sweat and drenched his beard of white. A rough appearance served well for this man's actions, apparently.

"There was no specified order of any certain manner, nay, Akunadin?" A snake-like voice hissed from the purple-garbed man's scaly lips with a conceited smirk spread wide across it. The other male, Akunadin, glared at the mauve figure in rage and gripped is collar even more tightly, causing the taller man to gag.

"I said we made a DEAL! Did you not comprehend this, Heishin? Do you need my assistance to literally bash it into your head?" A husk voice whispered angrily at the currently being strangled man, roughly jolting the man's pale face closer to his own. The mauve-robed man, Heishin, began to sweat even more than he had been doing so before, fearing his own life may be taken in just only a few more moments.

"N-No need to be hasty, Akunadin. It still w-worked out the same way, n-nothing in our deal changed. A-And by the way, have you gotten the pharaoh to sign the contract?" Heishin gagged, forcing an awkward smile upon his serpent-like face. Akunadin grunted into Heishin's face, causing the man to wince.

"I did my part, and you failed to follow thoroughly through yours. Give me one good reason why I should not have you executed." Akunadin's tone became a low growl, his face revealing utmost anger. Heishin was able to manage a sly, reptilian smirk through his struggle and began to chuckle darkly. Akunadin eyed the man disgustedly. "What is so amusing about this circumstance, you lying snake?" The man in purple began to calm down and his toothy smirk grew wider at his attacker's wrath.

"Heh . . . Akunadin, if I go down, you are coming with me, whence I tell the pharaoh about your _involvement_." Heishin began to chuckle more after his statement, creating more anger to develop inside Akunadin. His face darkened, and a low, calm tone escaped his lips.

"That is . . . unless . . . you are unable to do so, Heishin. I hear it is difficult for dead men to speak . . ."

After these words were spoken, Heishin's face exposed even more fear. The two were still for a few moments, lost in the darkness and buried into each of their own hatred. Moonbeams showered them sympathetically, saddened by their hearts, or lack there of.

"_Cling . . ."_

A mysterious echo filled the halls as both Akunadin and Heishin gaped into the moonlight behind them, where a familiar silhouette stood. Akunadin immediately released his hold on Heishin and quickly turned toward the silhouette, leaving Heishin fallen to the floor on his hands and knees, gasping for air. The silhouette in the moonlight stepped forward, and Akunadin took a step back.

"What has happened here, Master Akunadin?"

"Everything is well here, Mahaad! No need to worry yourself." Akunadin took small gasps of air as he used the back of his right hand to wipe the sweat from his brow. Mahaad, on the other hand, eyed the man suspiciously and craned his neck out to examine Heishin.

"What has happened to our court's mage?" Mahaad walked directly past the silent Akunadin, and knelt down next to the mauve-robed mage. Heishin continued to pant heavily, but as he lifted his head higher to be eye-level with the high priest, his breaths became slower and he smirked deviously at Mahaad. "Are you alright, Master Heishin?"

"Yes . . . yes, I am fine, thank you, Mahaad. I have been suffering from some respiratory problems lately. Perhaps it is a punishment from the gods for a crime I have committed?" Heishin could not help but widen his smirk after speaking the words of his last sentence. Mahaad blinked in question at the elder man, but then smiled kindly in return.

"I am sure the gods are not angry with you, Master Heishin. You, along with Master Akunadin, are quite loyal to the pharaoh." The high priest then helped the mage stand to his feet, as Akunadin watched with distaste. "Master Akunadin, all of the pharaoh's court has been called for a meeting. We should get going." He then faced Heishin, whose arm was rested over Mahaad's shoulder. "As for you, Master Heishin, I believe the pharaoh shall not mind if you head back to your chambers for the night. By the looks of your condition and of what you had told me, it's best if you had your rest. I will escort you there, if you may wish."

"Nonsense, Mahaad! I will go to my chambers, but I would not want you or Akunadin to be anymore late for the meeting then you two are already. I will head back myself, thank you." Heishin broke away from the high priest, taking Mahaad by surprise and Akunadin by suspicion.

"Are you sure, Master Heishin?" Mahaad asked again for reassurance. Heishin bowed a few times to each of the high priests, muttering "Yes, yes" and "I shall be fine." Holding onto the darkened, yet golden wall, Heishin began to feebly slither into the darkness. Mahaad watched after him as Akunadin took hold of the priest's toned, bronze-colored arm. He nodded at Mahaad, and the two began to walk into the opposite direction.

"How did you find me, Mahaad?" Akunadin asked in the most straightforward way as they continued down the palace corridors. Mahaad lifted the golden item which hung from a string around his neck.

"As I was making my way to the pharaoh's courtroom, my Millennium Ring began to sense dark energy. I followed the direction in which it was directing me to, and that was when I found you and Master Heishin. It probably was just picking up you Millennium Eye." Mahaad explained specifically as Akunadin's face remained emotionless as the two walked on. "Uh-Master Akunadin, if I may ask, what were you and Master Heishin doing?" At that moment, Akunadin stopped his pace abruptly, causing Mahaad to do the same in bewilderment.

"Mahaad . . . you will forget what you had seen only a few moments ago." Without question, Mahaad nodded in a more puzzled manner than understanding, but in whichever case, the high priests continued on to the courtroom.

"_Shoom_-_"_

Unknown to them, a shadow even more dark than the hallways themselves lurked around the corridors. Heishin growled angrily to himself as he struggled to maintain his balance while leaning against the wall for a moment.

"Heh . . . heh . . . that cursed Akunadin . . . he deserves to be stripped of his flesh and buried alive . . ."

"_I agree entirely."_

"What?"

Suddenly, a large shadow with one swift movement sent the man down on to his hands and knees.

"Agh!" He cried out in pain, landing directly face first into the crimson rugs. His vision became blurry and he fought to keep his eyes opened to face his current attacker, who was slowly making their way to the fallen mage. A low cackle could be heard from the being, dark and sadistic. They now towered over the man's body, and Heishin could feel something strong grasp his arm and hung him limply into the air. Glowing, demonic eyes were luminescent in the dark, and with a gasp of fear from Heishin, he knew exactly what he was up against.

"You!" Fear overwhelmed his feeble mind, and he froze, holding his breath. The attacker chuckled darkly in reply.

"_Shall we pay a visit to the pharaoh?"_

bdbdbdbdbdbdbd

The courtroom had finally settled down, Millennia and Seto had just about enough of each other's ignorance. All was quiet, until the princess collected herself and decided to get back on topic.

"Pharaoh! What about my brother?"

" . . . . . . ."

"Huh?"

The pharaoh had just received a nudge in the shoulder from Shimon's bony elbow, who also gave the young pharaoh a reprimanding look for falling asleep during a court meeting. Atem smiled ruefully at his royal vizier, who then nodded toward the anxious Millennia. The amethyst eyed pharaoh blinked at the girl and then abruptly sat up straight in his seat, hoping that no one had seemed to notice, which was highly unlikely.

"Ehem . . . uh-forgive me, I was just resting my eyes for the moment, no more." He coughed into his fist and blushed slightly in embarrassment, while the rest of the court sighed with sweatdrops.

"My brother!" Millennia cried out again, becoming impatient with her friend's bad habit of falling asleep on the throne. Atem's eyes widened in remembrance at her exclamation. That was right. He had to get his mind back on the matter at hand.

"Princess, I-" He froze for a split second, gazing straight ahead into his friend's face. She expressed deep concern, and already had a feeling that this news was going to be bad news. It was as obvious as her eyes were a deep blue, full of worry and uneasiness. Though, he could feel the gazes of everyone else in the courtroom's eyes, silently supporting their king to do his job, no matter how hard it may be for him, and for the rest of them. Atem took a deep breath, and stared directly into Millennia's cerulean orbs with his amethyst ones.

" . . . Greece's kingdom had been attacked last night, but word had not been received until today, and that is even considered fast. The whole entire royal family has been declared missing, including your parents, the new queen . . . and your brother, King Andreas."

Atem breathed through his nose and watched Millennia. Her features transformed from anxiety to extreme fear. The high priests gazed sympathetically at the princess, unable to do a thing for her. Even the royal guards seemed to bear heavy hearts, some staring down at the floor in discomfort while others had just plain refused to make eye contact with the disheartened princess. Millennia's facial expression became blank, her bronze bangs shifting over her dark eyes as her head slowly lowered. She felt a knot form in her stomach._ How could something like this happen? Why now? Why me?_

"MISSING? I THINK NOT!"

A deep voice boomed throughout the courtroom, following a thunderous slam of the gigantic, golden doors at the entrance. A man marched quickly toward the pharaoh as another man followed him in a quick jog and repeatedly urged the other man to either "stop" or "calm down." Shimon's and Atem's eyes widened at the scene in concern as everyone else in the courtroom watched with puzzled expressions. Millennia, however, paid no mind and continued her daze into the sandstone floor.

"Lord Akunadin! What is the meaning of this?" Shimon demanded with boldness, yet simultaneously with respect in his tone. Akunadin stomped right before the pharaoh's throne and stopped with his arms spread out before him. The other high priest immediately stopped right next to Akunadin once he had caught up to him.

"Mahaad!" Atem exclaimed in surprise, not even realizing that the bearer of the Millennium Ring had not been previously present. Mahaad nodded with a curt smile toward his king, but then his lips formed into a solemn frown. He faced the elder high priest next to him and began to interrogate him.

"Master Akunadin, why were you suddenly in such a rush to get here? What is the matter?" Mahaad began to ask away with as many questions full of worry as he could. Though, his reply was an instantaneous glare with a few stray strands of silver surrounding an angered, tan face.

"Do not question me at a time like this, Mahaad! I have the truth about what has happened in Greece! The truth!" Akunadin had mainly directed this statement more toward the pharaoh than Mahaad, but both had seemed to be in understanding of what was to come. The entire court seemed startled by this sudden outburst by the highly respected high priest, not comprehending why he had lost his calm or what he was trying to say.

"Akunadin . . . I don't understand . . ." Atem appeared to be in a state of frustration and agitation, looking both concerned and uneasy at the same time. Shimon mimicked the pharaoh's facial expression and had to wonder as well of what was going on here. The other high priests each exchanged worried glances with each other, knowing that this was probably not going to be good. The guards in the courtroom seemed quite clueless of the situation, for the matter that Akunadin's odd behavior had distracted them. Millennia was now watching Akunadin intensely, making sure that she would not miss any piece of information about her family and brother. The old high priest swiftly turned his back to the pharaoh and faced the court, briefly startling Mahaad, who was right next to him and withdrew next to Karim immediately.

"Pharaoh! Princess! Everyone! The royal family of Greece is dead!"

Instantly, gasps echoed throughout the entire room and murmurs were heard all the while. Akunadin had not seemed at all disturbed by their responses; he may have even been satisfied. The faces of the high priests were notably horror-struck, and the guards appeared even more saddened than they were before.

". . . ." Millennia was speechless. The news had just gone from worse to _the _worst, even when she thought that nothing else could make this day anymore like a nightmare. "But . . ." She couldn't understand this, not any of it. Were the gods so displeased with her as to give her such a burden? The princess thought of how immeasurable her heart would be right now on the golden scale in Karim's possession, the Millennium Scale, none the less. Even better, Akunadin wanted to brighten the mood with more good news.

"And on top of that, they are not just dead, they were murdered!" More murmurs were stirred up in the courtroom. Atem's jaw almost hit the floor from the shock and Shimon placed his hands to his face in distress. The high priests continued to watch Akunadin with stunned expressions across their faces.

"Akunadin, how do you know all of this?" The pharaoh demanded in a rage as the high priest turned around toward him, almost crazed.

"I have some . . . _inside_ information about this, my pharaoh. You see, it was not just a massacre by a rival country, but it was a slaughtering done by none other than the most iniquitous group in the world . . . it was Bakura! The King of Thieves! He and his men are responsible for this catastrophe!"

The room began to grow louder; suspicious murmurs grew into angry shouts and it was so hard to believe that the mention of one name could cause so much pandemonium. The high priests, and even Shimon, looked even more disgusted than they did before, knowing now who was to blame for this atrocity. Atem appeared as if he would jump right out of his skin and go on a killing spree himself against Bakura.

"SILENCE!" The court grew instantly quiet in obedience at the strident voice of Pharaoh Atem, who at the same time rammed his fists into the arms of his extravagant throne.

"Bakura? That scum! I can't believe he would go out and kill innocent people just to try to get revenge on me! That makes me sick . . . he cannot be forgiven for this insidious act . . ." Atem clenched his bronze fists as he sat in a silent rage upon his golden throne. The high priests all nodded at each other, and then circled around one another, excluding Akunadin who watched amusingly a few feet away from them and in front of the pharaoh's throne.

"Bakura has taken things too far! This was probably not a random act of evil, but one to get our kingdom's attention!" Priest Seto exclaimed angrily to the other priests as they began to discuss the situation amongst themselves.

"Could this possibly be a tactic to try and draw us out to Greece? If we head there, our kingdom could possibly suffer the same fate . . ." Isis added in melancholy, as the other high priests went into deep thought.

"This is an outrage! That monster had to not only involve the princess' kingdom, but is using this event as bait for us!" Shada explained angrily, his teeth gritted hard in wrath.

"The question now is what Bakura's _true_ motives behind this crime are?" Karim placed an olive-toned hand under his chin as if he were pondering.

"He has to be stopped before anymore innocents are injured. Maybe we should take this account as a warning rather than seeing it as a trap. We should heighten our security even more now." Mahaad was the last high priest to speak his mind on the issue at hand, but Seto seemed to have something snide to add to this.

"Heighten security? Ha! Have I not already brought that up with you before? Mahaad, may I remind you that it is _you_ who is in charge of that department . . . and are failing miserably. Maybe it is time that you stepped down from your position." The azure eyed priest smirked haughtily into Mahaad's azure eyes, Mahaad's expression revealing both objection, and maybe hurt.

"Seto, I admit that security has not been at its peak lately, but I promised the pharaoh that I would do better. I believe that things have grown much safer in the kingdom than it had been when Bakura first attacked. Plus, we-" Mahaad was abruptly interrupted by Seto, who now was infuriated.

"How do we know that the kingdom is more secure? Maybe Bakura is just waiting for the right moment to make his move! You cannot say that he has tried to penetrate through our defenses since after the day when he ransacked the previous pharaoh's tomb and arrogantly dragged his mummy before the court to mock him and us all! Do you want that to happen again, Mahaad? If you do not, then I suggest that you rethink why you are even in the pharaoh's court!" After this loud outburst from Seto, the two high priests began to quarrel between each other, causing a chain reaction among the other priests who tried to get Seto and Mahaad to calm down, though only making the situation even worse and creating a noisy debate. Atem sat upon his throne and watched them with protest plastered across his face and Shimon shook his head to himself in exasperation. Akunadin remained a solemn expression across his face, but even he began to join in on the conflict after awhile, however he made no difference to the situation.

"Pt-" A small, clear drop of liquid fell to the floor, looking as though a soft crystal had shattered against the hard, granite throne room floor. A small sniff was barely heard over the shouts of the high priests, who were too preoccupied within themselves at the moment. Cerulean orbs slowly looked up to them, and screamed a silent suffering.

"STOP IT!"

The high priests began to quiet down, except for Seto and Mahaad who hissed their final remarks to each other before taking notice of the sudden cry. Millennia stomped a foot before herself and clenched her fists into tight balls. She squeezed her eyes tight, though a small tear was able to slip away from the corner of one of her eyes.

"JUST STOP IT!" And on that impulse, the princess turned on her heel and began to sprint out of the courtroom, guards watching her with concern. A trail of tears were left flying behind her and some mixed with her flowing, bronze colored hair.

"Princess!" Isis called out on maternal-like instinct, and receiving a guilty gaze from Mahaad. The other high priests exchanged accountable glances with each other, though Seto had just made a 'hmph.' Akunadin watched darkly after the princess until the golden doors of the throne room were half way closed by the guards. Atem stood abruptly from his chair and gasped in shock.

"Millennia!" His amethyst orbs shone valiantly as he decided to chase after her, his royal purple cape flowing behind him.

"Pharaoh!" Shimon called out in protest, but the young king could not be stopped. In a flowing motion, Atem had just run after Millennia, startling the guards who were shutting the giant doors and leaving the high priests baffled. Right when the pharaoh had left the room, the doors had been completely shut, and leaving the courtroom in a culpable quiet. The high priests stared at each other in disbelief and guilt, excluding Seto who gave Mahaad a haughty gaze, and Akunadin who was dismissing the guards from the courtroom. Once almost all of the guards were gone, Shimon placed his hands on his hips and let out a loud grunt, catching all of the high priests attention.

"You should all be ashamed!" The small, elderly vizier rebuked the full grown priests as if they were spoiled children. "I have never seen such carelessness in my life! Such ignorance!" It was quite rare to see Shimon so upset, and almost no one had ever seen him like this. The old man made his way in front of the high priests, all of them not daring to make eye contact with him except for Akunadin.

"All of you are so worried about such trivial matters compared to what is going on right now! Especially you, Seto, and I am very surprised with you, Mahaad!" Shimon glared daggers at the two taller priests, Mahaad mouthing a silent apology and Seto grunting in reply. Akunadin then stepped forward and ended up standing right next to Shimon with his arms crossed over his chest.

"I have to agree with Shimon here. We should not be worrying about such minor problems of 'who is ahead of security' or whatnot. Bakura is on the move!" Immediately after stating this, a small spark lit from Shimon's dark purple eyes.

"_All_ of you are missing my point! This has nothing to do with Bakura or politics! Princess Millennia is just a girl, and she did not just lose her country's rulers and leaders, but she had lost her_ family_! Do any of you have no compassion? Only the Pharaoh was able to see her suffering from the loss of her loved ones, unlike any of you who go on and babble about such issues!"

The high priests kept quiet then, absorbing everything the royal vizier had said; even Seto swallowed his pride for the moment. Akunadin on the other hand, seemed a bit alarmed.

"However, Shimon, more people's lives are at stake, and we _must_ take action! We cannot rest until we settle these matters!"

Shimon looked up into the taller man's eyes, and appeared to have calmed down.

"Lord Akunadin . . . there is a time for political affairs, and there is a time for mourning. This is a time of great sadness and loss, so I can assure you that the Nile shall be flooded with tears tonight . . ."

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Darkness . . . an endless, blind maze. No one could stop her sightless dash, to get away from everything. From everything that she had known to be real, from everything she had known to be true . . . it was all gone. So . . . what was there to run from?

"Millennia!" A deep voice could be heard throughout the corridors, though it held a tone of sympathy in it. The panting girl with invisible tears rolling down her face stopped immediately at the sound of the voice, leaning against the cold, hard wall next to her for support. The brunette rubbed her eyes briefly with her forearm, trying to dry her reddened face. Semi-luminescent, cerulean orbs peered from behind her arm, a soft sound heard from her lips.

"Atem?" Millennia's voice had cracked a bit, causing her to lower the tone of her voice in embarrassment.

"Millennia! Can you here me?" The gentle, yet thunderous voice of the pharaoh rang throughout the halls again, footsteps coming closer and closer to the princess. Millennia was both relieved and anxious at the same time. She was so glad that her friend was concerned for her, but . . . did she really want him to find her in the dark . . . like this? Looking pitiful and weak? Certainly not at all. The choice was somewhat hasty, though she had made her decision.

"_Keep running . . . do not let them find you . . . I want to be alone . . . Let me be. . ."_

These thoughts raced throughout her head as the princess ran as fast as she could into the shadows of the halls, not turning nor looking back. Stumbling once her twice, she could barely hear the faint cries of the pharaoh. Good. Or . . . was it? To not be able to hear Atem's cries only made her deepest, innermost cries even louder. Before she knew it, she was once again all alone in the dark, with only her own pain and sorrow to comfort her . . . or to torture her. Either way, company was company. There was nowhere to go now. She went as far as the hall went, gently brushing her soft hand against the wall of the dead end. No where to go . . . would anyone find her? Atem? She still did not know whether or not she had wanted to be found. _"How indecisive . . . that is not a quality of a future queen," _she was always told by her family. They were strict in their ways, but she knew that they had loved her. Especially Andreas. He was the only one that was ever direct with her about anything. _"Sometimes our flaws may lead to the doorways of our aptitudes." _If only he were here now . . . where did her flaws get her now, dear brother? Nowhere but a dead end. She leaned back against the wall, as to camouflage with it in the night. Maybe she could just stay like this forever . . . all alone in the dark . . . in her misery . . .

"_H-Help me! Princess!-ack!"_

Millennia had basically jumped as if she had been shocked by electricity for a split second, clinging to the nothingness of the wall behind her. A long figure lay out before her feet after being thrust there unexpectedly. A cold, pale hand reached out for her wrapped ankle, though the princess had stood on her toes to avoid physical contact with the unknown creature.

"P-Please-it's . . . it's Ba-"

"_Stomp!"_

"Ohhhh!" The figure appeared to be a man after the beaten and bruised body let out an inhuman howl; a bodiless leg had appeared from the shadows and was standing mightily on top of the man's back. Millennia gritted her teeth in fear, trying not to scream. She stared down at the poor figure on the ground, and began to take pity in his pain. Suddenly, after examining the man's facial features, despite the small cuts and trickles of blood, she had realized who this suffering man was.

"Master Heishin!" Millennia let out a cry of fear and knelt down on her hands and knees to observe his face into greater detail.

"What has happened to you?" The blue eyed girl felt a ping in her heart of sorrow. She was so caught up in herself, that she had not realized that there was something more to all of this chaos. A bigger scheme . . .

"_Why you little liar . . ."_

A smooth, yet deadly voice could be heard from behind Heishin. Millennia gasped in terror and jumped to her feet as she watched the mage being dragged into the shadows by the leg on Heishin's back. Two, glowing violet orbs could be made out in the dark at a higher elevation than Millennia's eyes. No-it couldn't be-

"_You?_" Millennia could not believe her eyes as she saw a taller figure walk closer to her and into the sudden moonbeams that Khonsu and Yah had sent down as to create a spotlight for the being's appearance. The being appeared to be a man, in a remarkable crimson cloak. He had Heishin lifted up by the collar of his garments and his head at the same level as the man's waist. Blood dripped down the mage's chin . . .

"Let him go! You're hurting him!" Millennia felt the words flow right out of her mouth without the consent of her own will. The man in the crimson cloak and the violet eyes let out an earsplitting cackle, an inhuman tone was most notable in it. The princess flinched, yet stood her ground. The man gave her a sly smirk of satisfaction, inflicting the fear he had wanted to with only the power of his presence and voice.

"You are quite an amusing person. First, you lie to me and say that you are a servant in the palace. And I _almost_ believed you, _princess._ Now, you are reprimanding me on what to do with my victims, when you yourself lack the courage to do anything about it except for standing there, horror-struck, and watch me torture this old man." The violet eyed demon lifted Heishin by the collar to be eye level with him. "Or maybe he will die before I even give the pharaoh a real show with this man's pain. Or maybe I could hold him for a nice ransom, he _is_ the pharaoh's highest ranked mage, so killing him or not, both decisions are tempting . . ."

Heishin let out a painful moan, and his captor smirked disdainfully at the man, a malicious grin which hungered to hurt. Millennia had to admit that this man was correct; she was horror-struck. She had never witnessed anything like this in her entire life, and on top of that, her own family and kingdom were slaughtered by a band of thieves, led by the notorious-

She knew immediately who he was.

"Bakura!" Millennia screamed as though he were a thousand miles away and not able to here her. Tears of anger and hurt streamed down her face, not letting up anytime soon at all. She could not believe that this same person had helped her earlier in the bar! This same man, who was famous for being the King of Thieves and killing many, including 99 palace guards single handedly, had saved her from being injured terribly! Why? She could not understand.

"Hm hm, well I'm glad that we have been properly introduced now, eh, princess? Now if you don't mind, be a good little girl and stay there while I take this old man with me to the pharaoh's court. His majesty might be . . . _entertained . . . _when he watches this old mage's blood stain his palace floor red. It's a shame really, I mean, it might take _hours_ to clean all that blood up from the floor! And what would they do with the corpse when they see how mangled it is? You can't make a mummy of mangled flesh, am I right?" Bakura darkly chuckled to himself in his sick amusement as Millennia listened in horror. What a terrible and ruthless human! No-he's not even human!

". . . Bakura . . ." Millennia gulped, holding her breath. This man had killed her whole entire family and more . . . and Andreas. The anger and rage burned inside of her, she clenched her fists at her sides and was just about ready to take a swing at the jerk.

"Hmph. What is it? I don't have much time, so make it fast, princess." Bakura gazed wickedly into Heishin's hurting face, enjoying the old man's agony. Millennia did not appreciate the fact that she was being underestimated; especially by the man she hated most. The blue eyed brunette gritted her teeth as hard as she could; fighting back any tears that had wanted to erupt. Finally, she made her move.

"Take me instead . . ."

Her facial expression and body softened, her cerulean orbs gazing sadly at an angle to the ground. Bakura and Heishin both revealed shocked expressions across their faces, though Bakura's eventually transformed into a vampire-like smirk. His fist grasping Heishin's collar loosened, dropping the mage to the ground in a weak state.

"Ugh-" Crumpled to the ground and surrounded in a cascade of mauve robes, Heishin laid there fragile-like, watching Millennia with confusion.

"N-No, princess, y-you are making a big mistake . . ." He protested against her decision, but the princess nodded at him with a tiny, yet brief smile. She then created eye contact with the thief king, and regained her solemn expression.

"Well?" Millennia asked somewhat forcefully; she was new to this suspense thing and all, and having a hard time sounding intimidating. She knew that if he was a few inches shorter and not as muscular, it would be easy for her to take him down; unfortunately, this wasn't the case. All she could do now was talk her way out of this, or into it.

"Are you sure that this is what you want, princess? The kingdom will probably miss you more than the old man, of course. . ." The milky haired man asked her, though more of a taunt.

"I am sure. I won't let anyone else get hurt." The princess stiffened a bit, emotions of fear and courage battling inside of her.

"Alright, then. Come to me, and if you try to disobey me, I can guarantee both you and that pathetic old man an instant death, right here, right now." Bakura's eyes shone with malice, one of his strong arms extended out toward Millennia. She gazed in horror at his outstretched hand. The girl wanted to scream, in all honesty. How did she get into a situation like this? It doesn't matter now; he'll probably kill her in just a few hours. It's almost poetic; her family dies just a day before her and now she will soon join them. Everyone having the privilege to be faced with the same god of death. Fate was fate and destiny was destiny.

Both of their hands fit together perfectly.

"Millennia!" As if almost right on time, Atem had witnessed the scene before his very eyes, despite how dark the corridors were. The pharaoh gasped in shock as he realized that Heishin laid on the floor in cuts and bruises, and Millennia was found hand in hand with Atem's most hated enemy . . .

"Bakura!"

"Ha! Why in the world is everyone shouting my name tonight when I am clearly standing right before your eyes? Really, the nerve of you royals . . ." Bakura sarcastically scoffed at the pharaoh while yanking Millennia to his feet, the princess releasing a yelp.

"Bakura, I want answers! What have you done to Heishin? To Millennia's family? What are you doing to Millennia?" Atem roared in a rage so loud, that even Heishin and Millennia were taken aback. Bakura's tan lips formed a soft smirk in delight at the pharaoh's hatred.

"Please forgive me, pharaoh, but I must return to the desert to think of a date for my next visit to the palace. Mahaad's Millennium Ring has been looking awfully tempting lately, if I do must say so myself. _And_ if you don't mind, I shall be borrowing the princess for just awhile. If I am in the mood, then I might decide to give her back _alive._" Atem's facial expression froze in fear at the thief king's words, bluff or not. Millennia mimicked Atem's facial expression, gazing up in terror into Bakura's demonic, violet orbs. Bakura's lips curved into an even more sadistic smirk while gazing darkly at the pharaoh.

"Oh, it's getting late, I might as well leave. It was fun _crashing _in."

At that instant, a large crash was heard from behind Bakura, debris of the walls and ceiling flying everywhere, along with smoke and dust. Millennia let out a scream while both of her hands clung to Bakura's one hand grasping her wrist. Heishin wheezed from the particles in the air and Atem cried out in shock while using his dark purple cape to protect his face from the blast. Millennia squinted with difficulty as she tried to make out what had caused the explosion. A large figure could be seen through the smoke . . . but what was it? Was it a demon . . . no . . . a . . . god?

"Diabound!" Bakura shouted maniacally to the figure behind him. It slowly began to emerge from the smoke and debris.

"Until we meet again . . . pharaoh . . ." Bakura mocked the amethyst eyed man. Millennia began to become dazed from the unclean air. What was happening to her? She felt her body being dragged from behind the thief lord, though she could also feel that all of the sudden, she had been lifted and was being carried into two, strong arms. The princess could hear her name being called out by Atem, though his cries were futile. She was now blind and becoming deaf. Once again, she was alone in the dark . . .

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"This is absolutely a horrendous turn of events! Horrendous!" Shimon stood right next to the tired looking pharaoh on top of Atem's balcony, which led to his royal chambers. The old vizier began to cry out pleas to the gods up above in the starless, navy-midnight sky. This wasn't making the young pharaoh feel any better about the incident which had occurred just a few hours ago. He just could not get any of the previous images out of his head! He rubbed his temple with his forefingers, as if trying to get rid of a headache.

Bakura had the nerve to appear in the palace right after what he and his men did to another country, and he even took a hostage! Millennia was taken away in place of Heishin, and disappeared with Bakura and Diabound. Right after the smoke and debris had cleared, all of the high priests and many palace guards came to the scene. Unfortunately, they were all too late, for the reason that the princess and her captor had already vanished into the pitch darkness of the night, leaving a scene of destruction behind them. Immediately, Akunadin had ordered yet again another search team to find Bakura, and this time they were to find Millennia as well. Heishin was taken to his chambers to rest and for his body to recover for the night. A short meeting had been issued in the court afterwards about this event. Besides the fact that Bakura had infiltrated the palace again and Millennia was taken, everyone was worried about the pharaoh not being able to get married now, since his 21st birthday was tomorrow. Mahaad was concerned that Atem would lose the throne now, though Seto objected and made some snide remarks about how this would not have happened if Mahaad's security standards were as new and improved as Mahaad said they were, creating more problems in the court. There were moments of control and moments of conflict, though whatever had happened in that courtroom had just pulled the last straw for Atem. All of the sudden he had raised to his feet from his chair and dismissed everyone in the throne room. Before anyone was able to comprehend his behavior or order, the amethyst eyed pharaoh stomped straight to his chambers with Shimon following him shortly after.

"Pharaoh, I promise you that things will turn out well in the end."

Atem turned around toward his royal vizier, who smiled comfortably at him.

"For now, I believe that ye should get some rest. It has been some hard times for all of us. Bakura may be a ruthless murderer, but I highly doubt that he would kidnap royalty just for blood lust. He is also a strategic genius, and most likely may want a ransom for the princess. I know that we can overcome that demand unless-" Right then and there, Shimon had stopped speaking, an expression across his face as if the wind had been knocked out of him.

"Shimon!" Atem gasped in concern, not knowing what was wrong. The old royal vizier slowly walked over to the pharaoh and stood next to him, looking over the balcony and into the black desert.

"Unless . . . no . . . he would not think of it . . . or . . . would he?"

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"Three divine beings . . . a dragon . . . a stone soldier . . . a phoenix . . . what does this all mean . . . ?"

Three flashes of colors shot across the darkness; red, blue, and gold. Suddenly, a white flash overcame the vision, reality returning. A blinding, goldenrod orb of light shone throughout the clear, powder blue sky. The black outline of a predatory bird soared before the giant light. A hot sensation burned and the reddened skin was layered in sweat. A stomping-like motion could be felt underneath her. _"What were those beings? Where am I?"_

Princess Millennia looked around her surroundings in a panic, realizing finally that she was out in the blazing desert. She was about to move a few strands of wet hair from her face, but noticed that she could not move her hands. Her wrists were bound behind her back, by what felt like a rough-textured rope. With her confused, cerulean eyes wide opened and in shock, Millennia felt a soft material on the side of her face that she was leaning against . . . horse hair . . . great, and it smelled like it too. The brunette figured out that she was most likely straddled on top of a horse. Wait a minute-she wasn't directing it or anything-where were the reins? Was she exiled to ride to her death alone in the desert on a runaway horse? Why? What happened? Oh . . . yes, that's right. The events of last night . . . she was beginning to remember . . . unfortunately. She wondered if it was all just a dream . . . a long, terrible dream. A nightmare, to put in lame mans terms. No, it was real alright, but there were so many questions clouding her head right now. Why was she in the desert? Was she dead? Did she pass the final judgment of the gods of death? Did she fail? Was this the afterlife? Could she see her family again . . . and Andreas? However, why would she be dead? It couldn't have been that simple . . . that easy. _"Grrgle . . ." _Well, that should settle things. Her growling stomach should be an indication that she was still alive . . . and hungry. But if she was alive and if what happened last night was _not _a dream, then where was-

"Finally awake, I see."

A familiar, smooth voice could be heard from behind the girl. Millennia's fingertips brushed lightly against a soft, yet sturdy material. This to her conclusion was not horsehair, but someone's cloak. She became startled by the voice, and convulsed in her place for a split second at the silky, sarcastic tone. The princess craned her neck as far as it would go in her position, only to be partially blinded by the golden orb in the sky, which turned out to be the sun. Though, she managed to catch a glimpse of the person's face behind her before quickly turning back to her head's original placement. Violet eyes; piercing eyes, through night and day, they always seemed to portray a radiant brilliance of darkness and malevolence. The same milky white hair and rugged scar were still there, planted upon toned, bronze skin. A large hand was at each side of her head and the horse's neck holding reins. To her surprise, they were going quite slowly. She guessed the king of thieves was not in much of a rush.

"Hm. Well, aren't you going to say something, princess-wait, never mind, I can tolerate you better when you're quiet." Bakura's sardonic tone made Millennia want to jump up right then and there to kick him square in the jaw. She wondered how he would be able to mock her then . . .

"What are you smirking at? You know what, since you're awake now, I see no reason why you can't walk yourself." The violet eyed man immediately tugged on the reins as the horse whinnied, coming to a complete stop. Millennia felt a strong force yank her back by grabbing her wrists and she had fallen roughly on top of the hot, desert sand.

"Oof! Hey-ow! That hurt!" The princess was not having too much fun being dragged on the ground to the back of the sienna-colored horse. Ignoring the girl's complaints, Bakura pulled Millennia to her feet by effortlessly lifting the ropes and her wrists up. Before she knew it, the white haired Egyptian had pulled her arms over her head and tied another longer rope around the ropes binding her wrists together before her. After finishing a tight knot, he fastened the knot to make sure it was secure, and then formed a small hoop at the other end of the bristly rope so it would fit perfectly around his left hand. Millennia tried to maneuver her wrists out from the bondages, but they were too tight; the more she tried, the more the small strands of reed sticking out from the rope would create small cuts into her already sun-burnt skin. She winced from the pain, and was extremely tempted to yelp, or possibly scream in agony. Bakura appeared to have noticed Millennia's pain, and smirked wolfishly at her distraught expression while placing his right hand on top of the horse.

"Comfortable, princess?" He softly chuckled in amusement at her suffering, and in the process receiving an angry glare.

"You . . . murderer . . ." Millennia heaved viciously under her breath in malice, wanting nothing more than to see that cockroach squirm in the hands of death; she wouldn't at all mind if those hands of death were hers either. Bakura cocked an entertained eyebrow, his smirk only widening. He began to cackle brutally as he mounted himself up on his horse, and Millennia held her breath to prevent herself from sobbing in offense. The thief king began to calm down for a moment and shook his head to himself. He then moved his violet gaze ahead of him, yet began to speak to the girl.

"Ha! I may be a murderer, but do you really think that those people you have been living with for the past week are any better than I am? The only difference between me and them are that they are _rich_ murderers . . ." Along with that reply, Bakura slightly tugged the reins of the horse, causing the creature to continue its walk forward. He also gripped his fist around the hoop of rope he had created previously, which was tied to the princess' binds.

"Ah-!" Millennia gasped as she was suddenly being dragged behind the horse without stopping. She stumbled forward, but then regained her balance quickly after. Disregarding the abrupt movement, the blue eyed brunette decided to respond to Bakura's cocky statements. "You have absolutely _no _idea what you are talking about, Bakura! None of my friends would ever hurt _anyone_!"

"So now they are your _friends_? Funny, you just met them recently, and now they are your _friends_. You barely know them, princess. Think of the rationale here: we had just met yesterday and you assumed that I was a good guy, right? For all you know I could have been putting on an act . . ." Bakura answered her thoughtfully while still keeping his eyes on the sands ahead of him.

"You _were_ putting on an act! My friends are _not_! What would you know about friends?" Millennia blurted out in anger; she was now feeling more heat rise to her face, and if she got anymore hot she swore that it would be the end for her.

"Oh, please! I don't need to hear any friendship rants right now! 'Friend' is just a more polite term for 'pawn.' Get it, _princess_?" The thief king sneered at the girl, wanting her to so badly shut-up. Millennia just wanted to scream curses at him and such. Boy, she had _lots_ of definitions for him right now, the kind of definitions that Shimon would probably have a cow if she muttered even one. "_Might as well not add anymore fuel to the fire . . ."_

After about ten or fifteen silent minutes later, Millennia began attempting to bite the ropes around her wrists. She almost thought she saw Bakura look back at her and smirk for doing something so childish, but she didn't care. Realizing that this wasn't working after about thirty seconds, she decided to stop her gnawing and started to stop in place, let the rope extend to full length, then catch up, stop, let the rope extend, then catch up to it. The girl hoped that she would eventually gather up the strength to get the horse to at least stutter in its steps (or have Bakura fall back off the horse- boy she would love that.) Maybe Bakura would stop and let her rest from this tiresome walk, and he would untie her; _that_ would be her chance to escape! Hold on- he has a horse, he could catch her if she decided to run- no problem! She'll take the horse before he thinks of hopping onto it! –Wait, then there's Diabound- she could- ok, a Plan B needs to be made here . . .

"What in the world are you doing back there? If you continue to play those games like a child then I will have no choice but to tie up your whole entire body! Would you _like_ to be dragged face first into the sand, princess? Heh heh . . ." Bakura smirked to himself in his idea of humor while watching the tired princess through the corner of his eye.

"Bakura, let me go! I promise to not make this easy for you!" Millennia continued to walk as she had originally been, staring down angrily into the seemingly moving, sparkling sands below at her feet. At that instant, Bakura let out a loud howl of demonic laughter, puzzling the Greek princess even more than she had already felt.

"Let you go? Was it not you that volunteered to be taken away in the place of that old man? If I released you, then your little sacrifice would have been in vain, would it not, princess? And as for you intending to not make this easy for me, then may I let you know that I do not propose to make this any easier for you! Maybe if you are lucky, by nightfall I won't have to drag your corpse to the oasis instead of your living self." That caught the girl's attention. She immediately looked up from the ground to be staring ahead at Bakura. Her blue eyes gleamed with perplexed interest.

"Oasis? You mean that by the time it's dark you plan on stopping somewhere? Where exactly are we going?" In reply to the girl's interrogation, the king of thieves tilted his head back with a luscious smirk spread across his lips.

"Of course I plan on stopping. The oasis is just a few hours beyond this point where my men should meet us. The Great Bakura also needs his rest, right?" He smirked pompously to himself as they continued. Though, that response left a bad taste in Millennia's mouth.

"_You _need rest? Hello? I'm the one who will be walking for miles all day! It's so hot out here, aren't we even going to stop for a few moments today?"

"No. That's why we're going at such a slow pace. I can't have you collapse on me, yet, there's no time to stop." Bakura replied bluntly, with no sympathy in his tone at all.

"What? Are you insane? Don't you have any water?" Millennia felt the sweat pouring down her face at this point, and her sun-burn wasn't improving either.

"Hmph. Why would I have water? Such a substance is for the weak. I'll have you know that I can sprint these deserts for hours and not even break a sweat." The thief king could not help but smirk at his own reply, realizing that the girl would suffer even more without water to hydrate herself.

"This has _got _to be a nightmare! So, is there any water at the _oasis_? If there even is one?" She asked in a bored fashion, expecting a sarcastic answer.

"Oh, there's water alright. I'll think about it as to let you have any . . ." The white haired male smirked mischievously in response to the girl.

"What do you mean _think_ about it? Then what's the point of even going?" The girl's tongue hung loosely from her dry mouth in exhaustion, just about ready to faint. Bakura gazed up into the cloudless sky thoughtfully, maybe mockingly toward the warn-out princess. A small smirk crept upon his face, and a mumble only he could hear was released.

"The point of going is . . . to test my theory, of course . . . hm hm . . ."

bdbdbdbdbdbdbd

On his throne, Pharaoh Atem began to stare into space, his head rested against his copper fist. While his high priests discussed certain matters, he had trouble staying awake during such tedious conversation. Tanned eyelids teased amethyst orbs, closing slightly, and then reverting back to its original position. The youthful king was up all night worrying about Millennia, and what Bakura was possibly planning to do. Worst of all, today was his birthday; and what a way to spend it! Discussing politics and fretting over the fate of his friend and Egypt . . . yeah, wonderful. Atem began to convince himself that everyone probably _forgot_ about his twenty-first birthday. Perhaps it didn't matter, in all actuality; such an occasion was most likely insignificant compared to everything else that had been happening. The pharaoh began to experience vertigo, the dizziness slowly drifting into darkness. Three lights . . . red, blue, and gold . . . were they-

"Pharaoh!"

"Uh- Y-yes?" Atem sat upright in his throne, being awakened by the scolding voice of his royal vizier. Those three lights . . . they couldn't have been . . . were they trying to tell him something?

"I truly wish that you would pay attention, my pharaoh! This is very important as you may know!" Shimon had his hands spread out before him as if he were showing the tri-colored haired pharaoh the point of his rebuking like it was physically there in front of him. Atem slightly smiled at the old man and began to reply apologetically.

"I'm sorry, Shimon. It is just the fact that-"

"Bam!" The courtroom doors slammed open, with a large group of guards flowing into the palace room. The head guard, with a different colored headdress than the others, made his way toward the pharaoh while he was followed by four other guards, and the rest stayed in the back of the courtroom. The four guards appeared to have been holding two people, most likely criminals.

"Pharaoh! These two peasants were the last two people seen in the village with the princess! By the description given by Priest Seto, we were able to find these ruffians in the bazaar. Priest Seto believes that this street filth has been working undercover for Bakura!" The head guard explained with authority in his voice as the guards behind him split into two pairs, each pair stepping up to each side of the guard and held before them a suspect.

"What? Are you crazy? Anzu and I wouldn't work for the likes of that guy! And why the heck would you think that we would in the first place?" One of the 'criminals' shouted in annoyed protest, his messy blond hair dangling over his burning, almond colored eyes.

"Jonouchi!" The other villager scolded him, her auburn eyes reproaching the blonde. Receiving a grunt in reply from her friend, the girl then shifted her head to face the pharaoh, chocolate colored locks swaying around her delicate face. "My pharaoh, if I may speak, I would like to know why we are being persecuted like this. We are innocent! The princess is our friend! We would never hurt her, even if she was not royalty!" Right after she had spoken her mind, the brunette decided to take a deep breath. It was quite uncomfortable to have two, full grown men grasping each of your arms at your sides with all of their might. She gazed into the pharaoh's eyes, waiting for an answer. However, that was when it hit her; he was beautiful. His eyes were like two perfect jewels, and his skin appeared to be very smooth. It was as if she was face to face with a god. A slight blush crept upon her supple cheeks, her reddish orbs lost in a daze.

"Seto, what is the meaning of this?" Atem demanded of the high priest, amethyst eyes shifting toward azure. At the loss of this eye contact, Anzu blinked in realization, and then shook her head briefly in embarrassment. How could she think like that at a time like this!

"These two commoners were last seen with the princess, and only shortly afterward Bakura had infiltrated our palace, yet again, and decided to take her hostage. However, her being here was not exactly released to the public. Bakura would only know of her existence here in the palace if he had some _outside_ help. Am I not correct, pharaoh?" Priest Seto had stepped up and explained himself while Atem listened with interest. Jonouchi, on the other hand, refused to stand there and be forced to hear what the high priest had to say.

"Is there something wrong with you? We didn't even find out that she was the princess until _after_ you had told us yesterday!" Venting his anger, the Egyptian boy began to shout some more at the blue eyed priest, yet Anzu on the other hand, seemed more concerned than angry.

"Millennia is gone? Are you saying that Bakura took her? Bakura, the king of thieves?" The girl appeared disheartened, gazing helplessly at the pharaoh.

"That's _princess_ to you!" Seto snapped at the brunette, sharply pointing his Millennium Rod at her.

"She's our friend! We can call her by her first name if we want to! Plus, she even said we could! You think that you're so much more important than the rest of us _just_ because you get to wear a big hat!" Jonouchi snapped back at Seto's remark. Right then, Seto began to make his way toward the boy, a bitter expression tainting the handsome high priest's tanned face. They were finally opposite of each other, two glares meeting.

"You better keep your comments to yourself, mutt, or you may just regret it."

"Grr . . . you lousy-" Right before Jonouchi could finish his comeback, Seto turned his back to him and faced Atem.

"My pharaoh! These two speak of our kingdom with disrespect! This should be proof enough that they are working under Bakura and should be extracted of their evil ka immediately!" Raising his Millennium Rod into the air, murmurs were heard among the guards and the other high priests' facial expressions revealed protest. Anzu and Jonouchi both gasped in shock, not wanting to receive the most horrific punishment.

"Well, do I have your consent, pharaoh?" Seto waited patiently with a cool smirk spread across his lush lips for his reply. Atem blinked in surprise, but then directed his attention to the two villagers.

"What are your names?" He asked casually, as if he were in any other normal conversation with anyone else. Anzu and Jonouchi exchanged confused glances, but then decided to respond.

"I am Anzu of this here village in Egypt. And that hot-head over there is my close childhood friend-"

"-Jonouchi . . . I am also a native here. And we don't appreciate disrespect from _anyone _. . . _and I'm not a hot-head _. . ."

Atem had no choice but to smile at these two villagers. They seemed so full of life, and very different from anyone else in the palace. They were definitely not bad people.

"Well, Anzu . . . Jonouchi, welcome to my palace. I apologize that you two could not have had a more proper greeting." After stating this, the pharaoh gave a playful smirk toward Seto, who grunted to himself in annoyance.

"But what about their ka? And Bakura! They must be punished!" Priest Seto protested against the pharaoh's warm welcome toward the villagers. Jonouchi growled at the high priest while Anzu watched Atem for an answer. The pharaoh smiled kindly at the two villagers and began to speak.

"I see no harm from these two. They appear to have good hearts, and I respect that entirely." After that statement, Atem leaned over to whisper something into Shimon's ears, causing the royal vizier's eyes to light up in delight. Shimon then motioned his hand toward a few servants who had been observing the whole event from the halls, and they entered in the courtroom by command.

"Ye three there! If ye may, please take this young man and young lady to some of our spare chambers to get washed up and changed into more suitable clothing." Shimon explained to the servants, and everyone in the room's eyes widened in surprise. Priest Seto was outraged, to say the least, and stepped forward in protest.

"Pharaoh! I must disagree with your decision! These two commoners are only trash to our palace! They contain the potential of great evil! The servants of Bakura will curse our kingdom and bring down our empire!"

"Actually, I was hoping to invite them to dinner, not to invite them to bring us a curse, which I highly doubt they will do. And perhaps they can stay in the palace for awhile, since they had been so abruptly forced to come here. I think that should be fair enough. Plus, if I must say, Seto, I believe you are possibly jealous." Atem kept his cool and calm composure as the high priest's temper began to silently boil, mainly at such humiliation he had been put through thanks to some _commoners_.

"Ah! Really? Oh, pharaoh, we really do not deserve such an honor-" Anzu gasped in shock, but was then cut off in mid-sentence by her childhood friend.

"-Of course we do! Thank you so much, pharaoh!" Jonouchi was ecstatic by the news, and too busy making faces at Seto to notice Anzu's reprimanding glare. Seto was about to make another protest to the pharaoh, but Akunadin placed a firm hand on his colleague's shoulder, as a gesture for the younger high priest to give it up. Seto hesitated, but then nodded bitterly at the wielder of the Millennium Eye and kept quiet, silently glaring angrily at the two villagers for the rest of the time. At Atem's command, the guards had released a relieved Jonouchi and Anzu, who were then greeted by some of the servants. Anzu then faced the pharaoh gleefully, her auburn eyes beaming at him, and she bowed slightly on bended knee toward him.

"Oh, thank you so much, great pharaoh! Thank you! Thank you! You are truly the great pharaoh!" This comment caused a small smile to appear upon the pharaoh's lips, and he nodded kindly toward the girl, his smile changing into a chuckle when he took notice of the girl pulling the boy, Jonouchi, down to his knees by roughly yanking on his shirt collar. He parted his lips to speak, but was beaten to the next words.

"_Great pharaoh? I am sorry to say, but this boy is no longer the pharaoh according to the law."_

A snake-like voice hissed throughout the courtroom, causing eyes to wander and shift around the room in curiosity. Who had just spoken? The high priests each took a place in front of the pharaoh, and the servants led Anzu and Jonouchi to the sides of the courtroom while the guards took position on both sides of the courtroom walls. Atem felt a sudden sting in his chest, and winced at the slight pain. His intuition led him to stare into the shadows of the golden, ornate pillars inside of the room on the opposite side from where everyone else had stood on guard.

"_Click . . . Click . . ."_

Out of the shadows, came a tall, mauve figure, with a reptilian smirk plastered across his pale face.

"Heishin! What do you mean by this? How have you healed so quickly?" Shimon demanded of the old mage.

"Believe me, dear Shimon, that after many years of magic and sorcery, I have developed quite a nice cure spell that heals the human body within hours. I am the high mage of the court, I dare say, but perhaps that will all change very soon." Heishin slowly made his way closer and closer to the throne, yet maintained a good distance from the high priests.

"Change? What are you talking about, Master Heishin?" Mahaad interrogated the mage while being backed up by the other priests. Heishin smirked even wider, and then began to laugh maniacally loud. The court watched the madman with alert eyes. After calming down, he then pulled a scroll of papyrus from behind him.

"You see this? This is the contract the pharaoh had signed only awhile ago. It states that if the current pharaoh fails to marry by his twenty first birthday, which is today, he must give up his throne to his highest rank mage. That would, most obviously . . . be me."

Everyone in the court glared at the man in protest, more murmurs being heard among the guards and servants. Shimon decided to take another round of words with Heishin.

"I do not recall the law ever stating such a thing! If the pharaoh fails to marry by his twenty-first birthday because of unusual circumstances or an emergency, such as which we are going through right now with the kidnapping of the princess, then the pharaoh has another year to be wed." The royal vizier stated perfectly by memory, as if he was reading directly from the scroll. Heishin smirked at him, and wagged his finger mockingly.

"Well, that is not what _this_ little scroll says. Would you like to see for yourself?" With the wave of his hand, a magic wand appeared out of thin air before him, resembling a small, hooked staff that was white and blue striped. He then grabbed it with his scaly hands, and waved it in a swift motion. The scroll then floated like a feather in mid-air, interesting everyone in the magic trick as it hovered over the high priests' heads and into Shimon's hands. He received the scroll successfully, and then opened it while Atem peered over the royal vizier's shoulder to see the document. Both of their eyes widened in shock at the same time after looking it over for only a moment's time.

"This law is authentic with the pharaoh's signature! He had never signed anything like this before, and all of us always witness each of his amendments to the law! How can this be?" Shimon cried out in protest, Atem's facial expression matching the old man's face. Heishin smirked slyly at them, and then replied calmly.

"Funny what a simple character changing spell can do. The ink is jinxed to be blunt, thus right after the pharaoh had signed it, the ink had changed back into its original message." Heishin then directed his attention to Atem. "Do you remember a tax-cut law given to you a couple days ago, pharaoh?" Atem's amethyst orbs shook in realization.

"Yes! I do . . . but it was given to me by-" A blue eye gazed at the pharaoh, followed by a glint of gold.

"-Akunadin!" Atem gasped, and everyone in the court adverted their eyes to the eldest high priest. He stood there casually, as if no one had taken any notice of him at all. The most seemingly surprised was Seto, who quickly turned around toward the man.

"Master . . . Akunadin . . . did you _know_ about this? Did Master Heishin give you the scroll?" The azure eyed high priest was next to speechless, yet Akunadin appeared unfazed.

"I had no idea at all that the ink on the scroll was jinxed." The high priest replied with an emotionless expression. Heishin's snake-like smirk grew even wider at this answer.

"Do not play innocent now, Akunadin. We had made an-"

"I know how we can settle this affair . . ." Akunadin stepped forward and faced the pharaoh, cutting off Heishin before the mage could finish ratting him out. Everyone listened to what the high priest had to say.

"The pharaoh and the high mage should resolve this dispute with a diaha. The winner becomes pharaoh and the loser . . . will have their fate decided afterwards." Akunadin explained with little to no emotion in his voice, alarming the other high priests.

"No, Master Akunadin! Is there not a better way?" Shada protested as Isis, Mahaad and Karim nodded in agreement with Shada. Seto also had taken the liberty to oppose this decision.

"Master Akunadin! Please come to your senses!"

"Seto, I am fully aware of my senses." Akunadin responded solemnly to the astonished high priest, the others mimicking Seto's facial expression of surprise. Heishin took a step forward more toward the throne.

"I am willing to fight for the throne . . . meh heh . . . my only condition is that the pharaoh does not use the gods in this battle." A conniving smirk covered Heishin's face as the others glared angrily at him and his traitorous attitude.

"_Shoom-_"

Unexpectedly, Atem rose from his throne chair, fists clenched at his sides. Shimon tried to sit him down again, but there was no use. Amethyst eyes burned into the pale face of the twisted mage.

"I accept. I can't believe that Millennia would sacrifice herself for a lowlife like you. I won't let you get away with everything you've let happen, just so your plan could work."

Gasps were heard throughout the court. The high priests attempted to convince their pharaoh to consider otherwise, but he already had his mind set.

"Please trust me. I will not let this country fall into the hands of darkness."

The high priests were speechless, and could not say no to the young pharaoh's gentle, yet confident smile. To their dismay, they retreated to the walls of the courtroom.

"Pharaoh, are you sure that you want to go through with this?" Shimon questioned Atem with concern. The pharaoh smiled playfully at his royal vizier, knowing that Shimon was truly worried about him. Shimon understood the charming pharaoh's smile, and then nodded coherently at him, taking Atem's hands into his.

"May the gods be with ye, pharaoh." And with that, Shimon stepped down from next to the throne to join the high priests. Taking a few steps down from the platform the throne sat upon, Atem made his way closer toward the smirking Heishin. Akunadin stood toward the middle, but more near the wall to stay clear of the battle. He raised his arm in the air; Atem and Heishin both stood in stances as if to hold their ground. At that instant, Akunadin dropped his raised arm.

"DIAHA!"

bdbdbdbdbdbdbd

"Heh . . . heh . . ."

The sun was beating harder and harder upon Millennia, her heaving pants growing louder and louder. Bakura seemed to pay no mind to this and the horse kept at a steady pace, yet the princess seemed to walk slower and slower. Her vision began to blur and her steps became more jagged. The brunette's peach skin was burnt along her forearms, legs, and a little across her face. Sweat tumbled terribly down her body, and the sand began to stick to her burnt skin, which made matters even more badly than it already was. _Was this the end? Was she going to die? Just like this?_

"_Poof . . ."_

Millennia's legs had finally given out, causing her to fall on her side into the hot sand. The horse immediately stopped at the thief king's command. Impatiently, Bakura tugged hard on the rope he was using to lead the princess. Her body moved a few centimeters on the ground after he tugged on the rope, but the girl's body refused to move.

"I suggest that you get up, princess. Because if you don't, I promise to leave you out here, just like this . . . to be food for the vultures. There is no such thing as getting tired, just being lazy." Bakura smirked wickedly in his amusement while the princess continued to stay motionless on the ground. A moment passed, and she still did not move. "Alright then, if you want to die out here, then it is fine by me." The white haired tomb robber began to take off the rope from his hand.

"_Shik . . . shik . . ."_

Movement was heard from behind the horse, causing Bakura to crane his head back.

"I will not die out here." Millennia stood to her feet, legs shaking and covered in sand. Her eyes were watery from both the heat and the pain she was going through, physically and emotionally. The thief king smirked at the blue eyed girl with half-closed eyelids.

"That's what I like to hear." Once again, the horse began to move forward, forcing Millennia to keep up with its pace. Bakura returned his attention forward, ignoring the suffering girl behind him. She had trouble keeping up because of the many little things she was in agony from; sun burn, sand and ropes piercing her skin, dizziness, weakness, nausea, you name it. However, she had to keep going. The man that killed her family just could _not_ win. She would not let him. He wanted her to die out here and she knew it. Though, once again, she would not let him win.

"_This is going to be a _long_ journey . . ."_

_

* * *

__Yay! That was chapter 2 and I hope that you guys liked it! If you have any questions, just let me know! By the way, I had mentioned the names of some Egyptian gods in this fanfic, but I assume that everyone knows who Anubis, Osiris, and Thoth are (just in case you don't, they are the gods of death.) Also, there was Khonsu and Yah. Those two I know are not too commonly heard, but they are the gods of the moon. Please review, because it would make me so happy n.n In the next chapter, Heishin and Atem duke it out with a diaha (duel) and Bakura has some plans for Millennia when they reach the oasis. But until next chapter- "Duel! Stand by!" (Sorry, Anzu-chan, but apparently I'm taking your catch phrase . . .)_


	3. Cerulean fights Violet

**Cerulean Violet Sands**

**_Disclaimer_** _I don't have rights to Yu-Gi-Oh (good luck in life if you didn't catch that), I don't have rights to Bakura (darn it XD ), I don't have rights to Millennia (oh, wait- she's mine. Scratch that.), I don't have rights to fluffy balls of fur called Kuriboh (which will be featured in this chapter n.n ), I don't have rights to Malik Ishtar (WHY, DARN IT, WHY?), I don't have rights to the invention of the waffle (yet I perfected it!. . . in a burnt sort of . . .way), and I don't have rights to Moogles (that's Square Enix. Those things are too darned cute though, you gotta admit . . .)._

_**Author's Note** Hey guys! Ya miss me? (crickets chirp) Yeah . . . I thought so. Anyway, I once again screwed up big time. I promised quicker updates and what do I give everyone? An update six months later. Way to go, me. I hope you guys can forgive me. I did work on it a lot during the school year, but once summer came, things got busy. You'd think it'd be the opposite, right? Ha ha, not in this case, unfortunately. Well, why am I sitting here rambling for? You came to read the next chapter, no? Hey! I saw that! Don't even THINK about hitting that backspace button, buddy! I promise I'll shut-up! Honest! Now, please read and review! And please enjoy! (runs off to stomp on crickets that were chirping earlier)._

oOoOoOoOoOo

**Diaha! Three_-Cerulean Fights Violet_**

"DIAHA!"

Now ready for battle, both the Egyptian pharaoh and high mage glared daggers into the other one's eyes. Atem found him self pause in the middle of his actions, realizing that he had no idea of who or what to summon. Heishin smirked at the young pharaoh's puzzlement, and then took the initiative to summon his ka.

"I call upon . . . Meteor Dragon!" In an instant, a roughly carved stone tablet appeared out from the ground behind him, causing debris and dust to scatter into the air. A dark aura had begun to swallow the tablet, creating fearful reactions from everyone else in the courtroom. Inside the shadows from behind the tablet, a low roar had become audible to the human ear.

"_Roaaarrrrr . . ."_

More so a demonic moan more than anything, a giant, black winged creature had then emerged from the shadows, soaring above Heishin's head and circled around the palace ceiling, as if it was silently boasting its great size and speed. It let out another roar, though this time it was much more pronounced and carried a great deal of authority into it.

"_ROOAARRRRR!"_

"What is _that_?" Jonouchi pointed an accusing finger at the dragon, his lean body shaking in nervousness. Prepared to answer the almond eyed boy's hypothetical question, Heishin opened his arms widely in a welcoming gesture, and smiled eerily at the diaha's audience.

"This is one of my favorite servant ka from the shrine of Wedju, Meteor Dragon. It is not the strongest one, of course, but who said that I needed an extremely strong ka to defeat a peanut of a pharaoh?" Heishin then began to laugh maniacally to himself, the court watching him in utmost disturbance. A bead of sweat began to roll down the side of the amethyst eyed pharaoh's face, him thinking of a plan of how to beat Heishin as quick as he could before things got out of control. Atem shook his head to himself, light crystals of sweat being sprayed from his face and joined into his gold locks. What could he do?

"Pharaoh!" Mahaad called out to his ruler, the young pharaoh turning his attention to his high priest. Atem's amethyst orbs flickered in consideration, and everyone listened to what the wielder of the Millennium Ring had to say. "Pharaoh . . . if you must, you may use my ka, Illusion Magician." Isis gasped in protest to this life-threatening suggestion, but Mahaad paid no mind to her or the other high priests. His pleas began to grow louder. "Pharaoh! Please take into deliberation of what may happen to the kingdom if you do not accept my ka!" Mahaad realized then how frustrated he was getting to be, and the mauve eyed priest decided to take a deep breath before he spoke anymore. "Pharaoh . . . I would gladly die for a worthy ruler of this nation . . ."

"Mahaad . . ." Isis' expression became crest-fallen, along with the others who had witnessed this vow of dedication. Anzu and Jonouchi exchanged baffled glances, shocked at the high priest's amazing words. Shada and Karim stared at their partner in astonishment. Priest Seto had only raised an ocher brown eyebrow at the man, barely impressed at all. Atem however shook his head with a small chuckle, and then raised a hand up to Mahaad.

"Thank you, Mahaad . . . but no thank you. I would never risk a friend's life just to take down some disgusting piece of scum." Mahaad only gazed at his king with eyes of surprise, maybe even with a tint of disappointment. Nevertheless, the mauve eyed priest slowly nodded in response and faintly smiled. At that instant it had finally sunk in; this pharaoh was truly different from the rest.

"Oh, what a sentimental moment . . . I think I just might overflow the Nile with my tears!"

Cackling insensitively, Heishin had regained the attention of everyone in the courtroom, including the pharaoh. Angering the tri-color haired man, Atem growled in abhorrence at the evil high mage.

"You could never understand . . . the bond that all of us share!"

Heishin just laughed at the pharaoh even more, and wiped away a small tear in the corner of his eye.

"Bond? Are you referring to friendship, you stupid boy? Ha! Such a thing is only an illusion created by the weak . . . those who cannot survive on their own and need other weaklings to depend on . . ."

"That's not true!"

"And who exactly . . . made you the judge of that?" Heishin smirked maliciously at Atem, enjoying the site of torment inside the midst of the pharaoh's amethyst orbs. All Atem could do was growl in burning rage towards the high mage, losing focus of his own current thoughts. Heishin decided to go in for the attack.

"Meteor Dragon!" The wicked mage began his orders toward the alert dragon. He pointed a claw-like finger at the pharaoh. "Kill him!"

In an instant, the faithful ka swooped down in a glaze of jet black fire. Atem was not prepared for this, and here this ka was not even Heishin's own spirit ka! Bracing himself for the attack, the young pharaoh clenched his fists and stood his ground. The heat was becoming more and more intense for every second the beast grew closer to him, sweat trickling down his smooth face and around his squinting, amethyst eyes. He had to think fast- but what could he summon that could stop the attack?

"Pharaoh!" Mahaad let out a cry and flailed his arm out toward the tri-colored hair boy. He was so near, yet so far. His mauve eyes stayed focused on the scene, and shook with great fear. The high priest knew that he was told to stay put with everyone else, but it was also his duty to protect the pharaoh from any harm or danger! He would betray the pharaoh if he stepped in, but the same goes for if he were to just stand there and watch him fry to a crisp.

"Pharaoh!"

Cries and screams were heard throughout the throne room, but even so, there was nothing that anyone could do at this point.

"Meteor Dragon! Make the pharaoh into ashes!" Heishin psychotically laughed, both of his pupils diverted to different sides of the whites of his beady eyes. The winged beast opened its large mouth and black flames briskly flared from it, headed fatally toward the pharaoh. Everything raced through Atem's mind at once- everything except for the answer he needed- unless . . .

"_Voooooom!"_

At that moment, instant impact occurred with rubble flying everywhere and smoke fogging the entire room. Everyone present either shielded their face or ducked for cover. The priests' silent cries could not be heard over the explosion and could do nothing but wait until the debris cleared from the air.

"_Pharaoh . . ."_ A tear dropped from Anzu's right, crystalline red eye from underneath the protection of her hands and landed by her parallel foot. It was over.

As the smoke began to clear, the raspy cackle of the high mage started to become capable of being heard.

"Ahaha! Foolish boy! Because of your despicable pride, you are now currently as of the dead! I win! The throne is mine! Egypt is mine to control! Ahahahahahahahaha . . . ha . . . ha . . ."

Before long, the pale-skinned man started to notice a bold figure, standing where the pharaoh was before the attack. While the smoke had almost completely dissipated, a shattered tablet had appeared before the figure. Heishin's left eye twitched in frustration, and his scaly lips curled into an ugly snarl.

"WHAT? What is the meaning of this? How did you- that should have killed you!"

Relieved smiles were plastered upon everyone's faces in the throne room, grateful that the amethyst eyed pharaoh was alive and well. Atem stood in his spot with his arms folded in his own, royal fashion while a smirk tugged at the corners of his mouth.

"Heishin! You underestimated your opponent. What a shame for you."

The evil mage growled in annoyance with his fists clenched to his sides. He was not one who enjoyed being made a fool of in public, especially in front of the entire royal court.

"Tell me! How did you survive? What was in that broken tablet before you? Where in the world is my servant?" Following Heishin's interrogation, Atem coolly extended his left thumb upwards in reply.

"Take a look above you, Heishin."

Slowly raising his head up, the high mage gasped in shock and fear for his life. Directly above him floating in the air was a giant mass of little balls of fur that assumingly were covering Meteor Dragon.

"Kuriboh! Hundreds of them! But- I don't understand-" Heishin was at a loss for words, but fortunately the pharaoh filled him in, along with the rest of the court.

"You see, right before Meteor Dragon had attacked, I was able to summon the stone slab with Kuriboh inside of it right on time. Nevertheless, your ka had attacked me before I could summon Kuriboh, but luckily for me, the attack had hit the tablet instead. Thus, it shattered into tiny fragments and while the explosion had caused a sort of smokescreen in my favor, I was able to summon Kuriboh from each and every fragment which had broken off from the tablet. And do you know what Kuriboh's special ability is?" Atem waited for an answer from the speechless mage, who only gaped like a goldfish at the radiant pharaoh. With a small chuckle from the young pharaoh, Atem's gaze on Heishin only relaxed.

"That's what I thought," at that moment, Atem pointed a directing finger at the clumps of Kuriboh surrounding Meteor Dragon. "Attack!"

"_Kuri Kuri!" _

Small explosions could be seen and heard from where the tiny ka each self-destructed attached to the dragon. Meteor Dragon's monstrous roars of pain echoed throughout the palace, and everyone in the throne room watched the scene in awe. Heishin observed the situation in utmost terror, knowing that he was about to lose.

"No . . . noooo!"

After his shouts of fear, the explosions of the Kuriboh became so loud and fast, that they formed into one gigantic bang of light.

"_Choooooommmm . . . ."_

Silence. Falling pieces of debris from when monsters are destroyed fell from the sky, along with smoke floating in the midst of it. It was still silent. No one said a word, too stunned to take their eyes off of the scene.

"_Slump-"_

The defeated mage fell to his knees, staring fearfully into the cold, stone ground. He was feeling angered and relieved; angry about losing, but relieved that he had decided to not use his own host ka for the battle. Atem stood in his place, somewhat bitterly and unfazed.

"You lose," the pharaoh's expression did not change in the least, but his tone had begun to soften. "Heishin . . . you were one of my most trusted servants, and you betrayed me. Such a crime is unforgivable and punishable by law . . . namely death. However, I am going to give you the opportunity to live. I will let you walk right out of this throne room free of harm, but you must promise to flee Egypt, and never contaminate our country ever again. Understand?"

The high priests exchanged objectionable glances with each other while by-standing servants and guards gasped at the pharaoh's idea. Jonouchi and Anzu blinked several times in confusion, surprised at the sheer sympathy of the young pharaoh. High priest Seto was the first to make the next statement.

"Have you lost your mind, my pharaoh? This man here is a lying snake-in-the-grass who deserves to have a stake driven through him for his misdeeds!" Seto gritted his teeth and clenched a fist before him, but became less tense once a silent Akunadin placed a comforting hand upon his shoulder. Atem shook his head slightly, and a sad smile formed on his lips.

"I agree entirely, Seto, but I don't believe that capital punishment is always the best answer to things. We are only stooping down to his level if I were to comply to that logic right now."

Seto only folded his arms in reluctant obedience as a reply. Gazing directly into the pharoah's amethyst orbs, Heishin's beady eyes were observant and suspicious.

"Now, Heishin. Leave here at once . . . run away like the coward you are and never return. Ever." Atem stood his ground in his authority, and stared the weakened mage square in the eyes. Raising a wary eyebrow, Heishin slowly stood to his feet, his mauve robe brushing lightly against the ground.

". . . As you wish . . . my pharaoh."

Turning around, the exiled mage made his way gradually toward the large doors, a limp in his right leg becoming apparent to the eye the more he walked. Atem watched him with a stone-cold glare, along with the high priests and everyone else in the throne room. The guards near the doors were highly tempted to stop Heishin's leisurely walk, but knew better and stood in their positions stiff as a board. Before exiting the throne room fully, Heishin stopped between the doors and turned his head inhumanly slow toward the pharaoh, an eerie, awkward smile plastered upon his ghostly face.

"Thank you, my pharaoh. Long may you live . . ."

And with that final sentence, the mage turned forward once again, and disappeared into the darkness of the royal halls. The entire throne room was still caught up in the moment, even though Heishin could no longer be seen. After awhile, Atem turned around, his royal purple cape floating behind him, and walked up to his throne and plopped on it in exhaustion and sighed. Shimon cautiously approached the boy and stood next to him in his usual position.

"Tch, tch. First Bakura, and now this. I'm so sorry, great pharaoh . . ." Shimon placed a grandfatherly hand in between Atem's hands, causing the pharaoh to form a weak smile. The priests decided to follow Shimon's lead and came out from their positions, studying the damage and such.

"This may even be more expensive than the destruction Bakura caused . . ." Shada sweatdropped and sighed in fatigue as he observed the crumbled portion of the room before the pharaoh's throne. The servants and guards in the throne room chose to continue on with their business as if nothing had ever happened. Karim came up from behind Shada and held up his Millennium Scale.

"I don't even think that my millennium item could measure the cost," Karim stated tiredly as he and Shada began to discuss costs for repairs.

"Now, now, you two, we can easily fix this, just like last time," Akunadin stood next to them and tried to calm the two high priests down. "All that should matter now is that the pharaoh is safe and that that low-life of a man is gone for good," the elder high priest explained, receiving matching nods of comprehension from both Shada and Karim.

"Are you two alright?" High priestess Isis asked in concern toward Anzu and Jonouchi.

"Yes, we are, thank you," Anzu smiled graciously at the beautiful priestess, her auburn orbs glowing kindly at the woman.

"Yeah, we're just fine! Man, what a fight that was!" Jonouchi excitedly pumped a fist into the air while his brunette companion sighed in disbelief at his enthusiasm. Isis giggled a bit and smiled at the two villagers.

"I'm so glad."

Standing in the area where Heishin had previously stood, Mahaad was on bended knee and had been inspecting the ground for further damage. Seto walked up from behind him and did the same.

"I told you the security was weak."

After hearing this smug comment, Mahaad cocked an eyebrow at his fellow priest and stood up to be eye level with him.

"Seto, do we really need to argue at a time like this? It had nothing to do with security and you know it-"

"-That's what you would like to think, Mahaad, am I right? You will not step up security because of your ignorance-"

"-It was not to be expected! I cannot have men patrolling each and every person in the kingdom and invade the privacy of others-"

"-Did you see what just happened?"

"SHUT UP!"

Jonouchi stood between the two high priests with his arms blocking the two from each other, causing a long silence in the throne room.

"You two don't seem to get along too well, but shouldn't you two be working together right now?"

Another long silence.

"Who asked you, mutt?"

"WHAT? I'LL SHOW YOU A MUTT!" Jonouchi wound up a fist to strike Seto, but fortunately Anzu had come to the rescue and slapped the blonde in the face, causing him to fly a few feet in the air.

"Just for once, don't be stupid, Jonouchi!" Her auburn eyes burned with irritation and her usual migraine from her friend's careless antics began to start up again. Rubbing his reddened face, the almond eyed boy sat on the ground mumbling to his self about, 'getting no respect.'

"_Heh . . ."_

All heads turned to see Atem chuckling lightly, finding Jonouchi and Anzu very amusing. Eventually, one by one the priests began to join in, until the throne room was filled with laughter. Of course, everyone except for Seto found this entertaining, but he couldn't help but to reveal a subtle smirk, loving the fact that he was able to watch Jonouchi get beat up by a girl . . . again.

As the laughter began to die down, Shimon went up to the two villagers and took them both by the hand.

"Ah- yes! After all of this ruckus, we almost forgot about the dinner we were going to have tonight with our new guests!" Shimon then beckoned over a few servants. "Please see to these two that they are properly dressed for dinner and each have their own room here in the palace." The old royal advisor then gave Anzu and Jonouchi's hands to the servants, Jonouchi giving Seto a mocking face and making the high priest growl. Anzu sighed, once again, at how amazingly stupid Jonouchi was. However, before the two completely left the throne room, Anzu stopped dead in her tracks, causing the servants leading her to stop as well with puzzled expressions.

"Pharaoh! What about Millennia? Will she be alright?" The girl with chocolate locks asked in nervousness, catching the eye of the young pharaoh. He smiled kindly at her from his throne, and spoke to her with his majestic smile.

"Millennia will be alright. We had sent guards immediately last night after her and Bakura when he kidnapped her. Please be patient, Anzu."

Hearing his comforting words made the girl want to melt, though she shook her head to help herself return to reality. Nodding coherently, Anzu smiled and continued her way out of the throne room with Jonouchi and the other servants. Even so, she still had her doubts. How did they know if Bakura didn't kill her already? What if they left Egypt? What if Millennia had been sold into slavery? Only Ra knew . . .

"_Please let her be alright . . ."_

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The sky was a deep blue, speckled with tiny, shining spheres of light. No moon could be made-out in the sky's view tonight, yet the desert sand glimmered in the natural light. Velvet green palm leaves could be seen over-head; the groups of palm trees seemed to tower over a dark, but clear lake, surrounded by brilliant colors of exotic plants and flowers. Sprinkles of water were thrust into the air simultaneously as splashes of the aquatic substance could be seen. A girl was kneeling in the lake, the water only a little past her knees. She had her hands cupped together with water inside them and buried her head into her hands, drinking the water and cleaning her face with it at the same time. Then, she released the grimy water and cupped more clean water, repeating this process only a few more times. The bottom part of her copper locks of hair was drenched in the desert water, along with her legs and the fringed bottom of her dress. After a moment, she gasped for air and whipped her head back, eyes closed, and facing the depths of the night sky.

"_Heh . . . heh . . . heh . . ."_

The girl breathed heavily in relief, feeling her energy slowly returning to her. She felt so much better without her wrists being tied so tightly together. The brunette was too tired at that moment to open her eyes, but could smell the night air; fresh and clean, reassuring and relaxing to her. She didn't want to open her eyes. No, not at all. This was too peaceful, and she was afraid that if she were to open them, she would have to return to reality- a dreadful present in which she was enslaved to. Couldn't she just stay like this forever? She dug her fingers into the watery sand below her, feeling its soothing texture. The girl was becoming quite tired now . . . now she just wanted to-

"Ow!"

Well, back to reality. Sharply opening up her cerulean blue eyes, the girl moved her head forward and turned it slightly back, and at the same time she rubbed her head, for something not very soft had made impact with it.

"It looked like you were going to sleep there for a moment, princess. I'm not very fond of sloths."

A loathsome adversary of Millennia sat behind her, his legs crossed casually, and underneath a crooked palm tree; which next to that tree was his sienna colored horse tied to a palm tree and it was biting its leg, most likely trying to take care of an itch. Bakura's deep violet eyes never failed to illuminate in the darkness and he seemed to be enjoying a large piece of garlic, with a few bites here and there in its off-whitish flesh. He smirked at the princess mischievously, a fang sticking out from the corner of his mouth and a few pieces of garlic flecked around the areas of his lips.

Millennia blinked in angered confusion at the thief king, then spotted a garlic stem floating in the water next to her, the bottom of it brushing the sand layer from beneath it. Standing up abruptly in her frustration, Millennia kicked the garlic away from her and splashed water to the side, a few trickles back-firing upon her outfit. Gazing fiercely into the eyes of the ivory haired Egyptian, she stomped her foot into the water like a child who became annoyed with an older sibling's torture.

"Bakura, I demand to be treated with the proper respect that I deserve as a princess! And so far, you have failed to do so!" Wrinkling her nose in agitation, Millennia waited for Bakura's reply. The violet eyed man just took another bite from the garlic in his hand and chewed in a bored fashion. He then, as though if processing her words and actions, let out some air through his nose, a laugh that could not be released while he was eating. After swallowing, the man began to laugh to himself in a state of amusement. Millennia's expression changed from child-like anger to a blinking fool's confusion. When Bakura acted like this- happy for no apparent reason- if you could call it 'happy'- scared the princess more than when he was at his boiling point of rage.

"_You_ demand to be treated with the proper respect as a princess? _Here?_ Out in the desert where there are absolutely _no_ rules and _no _positions of class? If such respect may be given to a spoiled brat like you, then maybe _I_ should receive respect to as a _king!"_

"You are _no_king!"

"Quite on the contrary, my dear, I am the _King of Thieves!"_ Following this line with a clichéd maniacal laugh, Bakura received an eyebrow-raising stare from the princess.

"You scare me."

"Well then, I suppose that should be another high-light of my day," the thief king chuckled to himself while he began to finish off his second garlic. Millennia suddenly felt a pain in her stomach, finally realizing that she was hungry and had not eaten at all today. As much as she didn't want to do this, the princess made her way through the sandy water and marched right up to Bakura, plopping down right in front of him. She held her breath in nervousness and felt her face grow hot, hoping that the Egyptian wouldn't pull a dagger out on her and slit her throat . . . now that she thought about it, Millennia then decided on her better judgment to shift back a bit more.

"Well? Did I make the little princess upset? Do you want to go home, is that it, hm?" The tomb robber mocked her with a tone one used on a small child. Millennia grew even more furious at him, but tried to contain her self and not wanting to go down to his level. Calmly (or- almost calmly) the blue eyed girl began to ask the thief king for some food.

"Listen, Bakura. I have not eaten all day and I'm starved- if not literally. And I know you have some food with you, because I mean- where in the afterlife are you getting all this garlic from?" Millennia slightly licked her lips, watching Bakura take the last bite of his second garlic; it looked extremely tasty at this point, and usually she hated any food that gave off any sort of stench.

"Hmph- well then, princess, if you're so hungry- " The violet eyed man tossed the remaining garlic stem into the crystal lake behind Millennia, causing her to turn her back on him and stare at the spot in the water where it had landed with a tiny splash and floated. Watching the floating stem in disgust, she could hear Bakura's deep voice from behind her. "Go fetch."

Digging her nails into her legs from bottled-up anger, Millennia viciously turned back to face the tomb robber and gaped with a sweatdrop.

"What?" Bakura cocked an ivory-white eyebrow at the brunette, his mouth half-full with a few chomps of garlic, now currently wolfing down his third one. Millennia felt a vein throbbing in her forehead, and now she was ready to lose it.

"That's it!" The princess shot up to her feet quickly, and for a moment caused herself to blink in surprise that she had got up so fast; Funny, the things anger can do to a person. "You can't just starve your hostages! I'll die and then there would be no point of having a hostage, now would there be? How can a person be so completely into themselves and so selfish? How? How? Tell me, Bakura! How-" Right then and there, the brunette princess was grabbed by her right wrist and pulled down aggressively to Bakura's eye-level, him ditching the partially eaten garlic that was in his hand previously. Piercing, violet orbs stabbed right into her cerulean orbs, his sharp and venomous, hers fearful and unknowing.

"I'll tell you how. You royals have the birth right and privilege to eat whenever and wherever you want. You are always pampered to your own liking ever since the day you were brought into this miserable world. You never once had to scrounge around for food and were lucky if you only found crumbs that had fallen from someone's mouth only hours ago. You always had a comfy place to live and a family and friends and all the servants you could ever want to keep you company in your overly-crowded palaces. Never at all in your life have you needed to struggle. Everything came easy. You don't deserve anything that you have. You never worked for anything at all. You do not deserve a _thing_."

Bakura had whispered these words harshly to the girl, causing her to just want to run away, mostly because he was basically right. Everything had always come easy for her. Everything. And at this moment, there were people starving on the streets in this country, and maybe even every country in the world. There were people dying. People who were victims of war and plague. And all she could think about was her own self . . .

"Wouldn't it be better if you just _died_? All of you royals should just die. It would make the world a better place, am I right?"

Millennia felt her breath become quicker and sweat rolled down the side of her face, mixing with some stray copper strands of hair. However, Bakura's was heavy and hot, smelling of garlic which didn't seem to make the situation any more relaxing. The princess felt an urge to question Bakura, and fell upon that urge and spoke in her normal tone of voice.

"A better place for whom, exactly? Petty thieves like _you_? To wreak havoc and destruction with no law and order?"

Bakura's voice then grew louder from a whisper and deeper than Millennia's reply.

"I'd prefer a world like that over this one! One day, the dark lord Zorc will rise again . . . and destroy each and every one of you pathetic mortals!"

This statement made Millennia fear the psychopathic maniac even more and what was he talking about? No matter . . .

"Lives are just numbers in your book, Bakura. But they're more important than that to me. You wouldn't care if you killed an entire family, would you? Namely_ mine!_" After this out-burst, tears flowed freely down from Millennia's blue eyes to the bottom of her face. Bakura showed signs of amusement. How he loved the feeling of causing others pain and suffering! And tears were simply the best display of anguish, particularly when they were the tears of a young woman. This made him grin maliciously in his sick amusement. Especially because he knew something that she didn't know . . .

"Oh, my dear girl . . ." Bakura released her wrist and slithered his hand to her waist, and his other hand held the back of her silky smooth head. The violet eyed Egyptian began to pull her toward his chest, but she flinched in shock at the action and tried to maneuver away, yet with no success. Millennia was in a state of silent panic, now being pressed against her enemy and was expecting something terrible to happen. However, Bakura only craned his head lower to her ear level, his ivory hair covering his devious eyes and only his smirking lips visible. They parted next to the top of her ear and breathed viciously, while his grip on her tightened with complete dominance. An eerie whisper escaped from the Egyptian's full lips.

"What if I told you that I never killed your family? Nor that I have been to Greece at all?'

Millennia's blue eyes widened in utter horror, and her teeth clenched together, yet they were not tight in her jaw.

"What if I told you that I know who killed them . . . ?"

bdbdbdbdbdbdbd

The palace was lit up nicely tonight, despite the previous events that had happened earlier. Inside the palace, servants hustled around to prepare the late dinner- late thanks to Heishin of course. The grand, long table of sandstone was just about set. On top of it sat many chalices of wine, along with plates of fruits, vegetables, meat, grains, and anything imaginable that could be displayed in a glorious feast. It was almost complete, servants still trying to rearrange things here and there and the cooks were finishing up some of the meals. On further floors above, more servants were running around from room to room, helping the palace's new guests get ready.

"Ah so refreshing!" Anzu stretched out her arms as she sat up in a giant, in-ground built bath filled with steamy water and many oils with different scents. The auburn eyed girl lifted her hand up through the bath water and watched it quickly run through her fingers. Finally, she could relax! A few maids came up from behind Anzu who held jars of oils and ointments.

"Miss Anzu," the one in the front began, most likely the head-figure of the group; she appeared to be around Anzu's age, yet the rest looked a couple years younger.

"Oh- yes?" The brunette turned around and craned her head upwards to make eye contact with the woman she was speaking.

"May we wash you with some more oils? These are some of High Priestess Isis' favorites. She had suggested them to us for you," the girl continued, her black hair falling over her collarbone as she slightly bent over with the tanned vase. Anzu blinked for a second, surprised that someone of High Priestess Isis' status would offer something so special such as that to a commoner she barely knew. Nevertheless, Anzu politely smiled at the maid and nodded.

"That would be nice, thank you," she smiled, and then turned around, closing her eyelids over her reddish-brown eyes. As the smooth liquid was poured over her head, she calmly exhaled, thinking of how she hadn't felt so wonderful in a long time. "I will have to thank High Priestess Isis at dinner. She's such a nice woman. I always assumed women living in the palace were stuck-up and arrogant. I guess I was wrong . . ."

As the last droplets landed on top of her chocolate locks, the maid gently placed down the empty jug next to Anzu on the ledge of the bath. The maids sat around in a small circle behind Anzu and began to talk and laugh about different things, while the brunette sat in the warm bath and listened with her eyes closed in a state of relaxation. There were some voices just outside in the halls making a small commotion. Probably nothing to worry about; just some servants going crazy to get the dinner prepared. Back to her train of thought, it was nice to just be with a group of girls for once, not to be always with a certain dumb idiot-

Suddenly, the door to the bath burst open, causing Anzu's eyelids to be forced open in alarm.

"Anzu! Take a look at this new outfit! They gave it to me for free! I could definitely be a high ranking official in this, if I do say so myself!" An excited blond boy stood at the doorway with a wide, clueless grin across his face. He now sported a beige robe that extended down to his knees with a collar which was black and beige triangle-striped, and formed a small v-cut right below his collarbone. He wore matching shoes along with this new attire as well. Some servants were seen behind him trying to catch up with the boy. "Well? What do ya think?"

All was silent as the girls stared horror-struck at the smiling airhead.

"Ahhhhhhh!" The maids began to scream for the sake of modesty, bunching together even closer as to create a defensive wall against the 'intruder.'

"Ahhhhhhh!" For as dense as he was, our fellow man was frightened by the girls' shrieks and couldn't help but to scream like a banshee himself.

"JONOUCHI! WHY IN THE NAME OF NEPHTHYS ARE YOU IN HERE?" Anzu roared at the top of her lungs and thrust her hands into the air, trickles of water flying everywhere. Following her first impulse, Anzu grabbed the vase next to her and chucked it as hard as she could at her childhood friend.

"_Bong!"_

It made direct contact with the almond eyed boy's face, causing him to slowly fall flat on his back.

"N-nice aim, Miss Anzu," the head maid stuttered with a weary smile, she and the other maids a bit intimidated by her violent approach to the situation. They each fashioned the famous anime sweatdrop while Anzu gave them a thumbs-up.

"There you are!" A few more female servants that had been chasing after the high-spirited boy came to the scene. To their dismay (or pleasure), they came across an unconscious Jonouchi, and shattered pieces of a vase scattered about his head. Luckily, he had not been injured . . . too much . . .

"We're very sorry, Miss Anzu. Master Jonouchi had just gotten dressed into his new robes and then ran off in a speed of energy when our backs were turned for a moment. Did he cause you any trouble?" A maid in her middle age asked Anzu. She had a heavy build and appeared to most likely be a mother of quite a few children. The brunette shook her head with an amused smile across it.

"No, nothing happened. However, other girls here in the palace better be careful in the future. Jonouchi is not exactly a perfect little angel and has his boyish moments . . . which are many. Although, that's not really the reason why he came in here right now," Anzu rested her chin against her folded hands on the side of the bath in a bored fashion, as if she had said this many times before in her lifetime. The group of servants that had entered the bath chasing Jonouchi down began to lay him upon the heavy-set maid's back, and she hunched over to carry him away. "We'll see if we can wake him up before dinner, Miss Anzu." And with that, the group of maids made their out of the room with an out-of-it Jonouchi.

The other younger maids began to pick up the pieces of the pot, and Anzu realized what she had done, and looked guiltily at them.

"Oh no! I completely forgot that the vase belonged to High Priestess Isis! I feel so terrible right now . . ." the auburn eyed girl sunk into the water, while only her nose, eyes, and head were visible. The maid around Anzu's age bent down next to her and smiled.

"Please do not worry, Miss Anzu. The oil belonged to Priestess Isis, but the vase was only one of the palaces spares. She thought with such a young group of servants, we might probably drop it," she explained in embarrassment, a slight blush coloring her tan cheeks. Anzu giggled a bit in response, causing the other girl to laugh as well.

A little while later, Anzu had been dried off and led to her chambers in the palace. She had been dressed into new, fresh and clean garments and was now being shown what she looked like by one of the younger maids in a golden hand-held mirror decorated with many colorful jewels. To her satisfaction, the auburn eyed girl smiled at the beautiful site in the mirror. She was dressed in a long beige robe that ended down to her ankles with matching shoes and a small, soft pink cape floated behind her as well. Holding that in place was a gold plated wesekh, and resting on top of that was a necklace with a sky blue crystal-pendant tied to the end of it. Perfect.

The maids then began to leave, planning to come back in a few moments to bring Anzu to dinner. Anzu smiled at them politely and nodded at them in thanks as each one exited the room.

"_Clak_-"

The door shut gently behind them, and Anzu fell back on the large, purple silk bed. She gazed up into the matching canopy hovering over her and breathed in the cool air in the room. She still couldn't believe how amazing today was. Being brought to the castle (although in a false circumstance), meeting the pharaoh, watching a real-live diaha, being treated like a queen, meeting the pharaoh- wait, she already thought that. He was the most handsome sight she had ever seen. His eyes, his smile, his body, his charm- what? Why was she thinking such things about the _pharaoh_? He was _way _out of her league! She felt her face grow hot and sat straight up, hoping to come back to her senses. She then remembered _why_ she ended up at the palace today. It was because Millennia was missing. Her new friend was lost out there somewhere with a psycho and all she could think about was how _great_ today had been. Maybe it wasn't so great after all. The brunette formed a small fist with her right hand and lightly began to knock the side of her head with it.

"Dear Ra, Anzu, snap out of it! You cannot think about the pharaoh at a time like this! No matter how attractive he may be, you cannot even have one thought about him. Besides, there are more things to worry about right now, like Millennia's safety, and Bakura going on a rampage, and-"

"No way! You're in love with the prince!"

"Ahh!" Anzu shrieked for a split second at the disembodied voice and fell off the bed, face first. Not noticing until now, but the room's perimeter had been decorated with many large and identical pots. Movement could be heard from the one closest to Anzu, and a small hat appeared to pop out from the top of it.

"Wh-who is there?" Anzu scrambled to her feet after taking an unexpected bump to the head. She backed away from the pot and ran around the bed to grab the hand-mirror one of the maids was holding before to use as a weapon. "Don't come out unless you want to be beaten to death!"

All of the sudden, a girl only a few years younger than Anzu climbed out the pot and began to dust her dress off while giggling.

"You plan to beat me to death . . . with a mirror?" The girl began to laugh playfully, taking Anzu's threat as a joke. Anzu, on the other hand, did not find this amusing. She lowered the mirror and blinked in confusion at the girl.

"Were you in there the whole time?"

"Nope! I am a magician in training and I actually just transported myself from my room to yours! I really wanted to meet one of our new guests before the feast and I just had to try this new spell that Master taught me!" The young girl explained in a cheery and friendly voice, causing Anzu to chuckle a bit at how cute the girl was.

"Let me show you! I'm going to make myself teleport from right here into the pot behind you!" The girl pointed to a large piece of pottery behind the auburn eyed girl, who glanced behind her self to see. With the flick of her wrist, the young magician had made a magic wand appear out of thin air, impressing Anzu greatly.

"Ok then, here we go!" The girl grabbed the hovering wand from the air and then closed her eyes, as if she was meditating.

"_From here to there to there to here, make thy body disappear!"_

"_Poof . . ."_

In a small puff of bluish-purple smoke, the girl was gone. Anzu watched the spot in amazement, and then turned around; facing her attention toward the pot in which the magician-in-training said that she would appear. About ten seconds later, there was still no sign of the young magician.

"_I wonder where she could be-"_

"Kyaaa!" Falling from the ceiling, the girl landed head first behind Anzu. She gasped in fear of the girl's safety and helped her up.

"Ugh, my head . . . what could have possibly went wrong?" The girl began to rub the top of her head as her staff disappeared magically. "I did it right the first time, I don't get it! Maybe it was 'From there to here to here to there' instead of 'From here to there to there to here' or maybe it was because I ended my spell with a preposition- wait a second 'disappear' isn't a preposition, it's a verb- then maybe it's because-_"_ Before the girl could finish her rambling, Anzu let out a heart-felt laugh, and the girl watched her in bewilderment. "Hey, it's not as easy as it sounds, ya know!"

The brunette extended out her hand to the girl. "I'm Anzu. I think we'll be great friends!" The girl studied Anzu's hand at first, but then smiled energetically at her and accepted the hand-shake.

"My name's Mana! And between you and me, I'll have a spell in no time to make the prince fall head-over-heels for you!" Mana smirked mischievously, placing her other hand next to her mouth and whispering behind it. This caused Anzu's face to change to many shades of red, and she jumped a foot back in discomfiture.

"Wh-what? Y-you can't do that, Mana!" The auburn eyed girl blushed madly, waving her hands before her face fiercely.

"But of course I can! I'm a magician in training, there has to be _something _out there that could do the trick!" Most inconveniently at that moment, a knock at the door was heard. Both brunettes faced their attention toward the door, realizing that it was about time to go down for dinner.

"Um-come in!" Anzu called through the wooden door. Entering the room were the servants from only a few moments ago with smiles on their faces, yet the eldest girl looked utterly confused that Mana was in the room, but she shook her head and took each girl by the hand.

"Are we ready, Miss Anzu?"

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"What if I told you that I know who killed them . . . ?"

"What?" Millennia whispered, entirely confused by Bakura's questionable statement. Bakura seemed pleasured by her unknowing murmur.

"This dynasty is full of liars and hypocrites, you know, the ones you live with right now? It was the pharaoh's soldiers that went in there and destroyed your kingdom. However, they were led by that old snake . . . Heishin."

"!" The princess' blue eyes contracted, surprised to hear such a thing about the court's highest mage, and the most trusted one as well. She couldn't believe it- she shouldn't. This was Bakura talking here for crying out loud!

"Oh, and that old man Akunadin was involved too. But that shouldn't come to surprise to you, princess. After all, deep down inside he knows he wants his son to have the throne."

"_Akunadin . . . has a son?"_ Millennia mentally interrogated her self. But . . . how could that be? "You lie!" She couldn't bare it anymore. These things that this tomb robber was saying made no sense, and were completely unverified. The girl struggled to break free from Bakura's strong arms, but it was no use. He then crushed her harder against him self, his muscular arms like two, large pincers. The man began to chuckle darkly at her futile attempts, and acted like as if they were playing both a physical and emotional game, and he was winning. His amusement growing, Bakura let out a vicious roar of laughter.

"So, princess! Who do you think next of your _friends_ shall betray you? Priest Seto? The one with the ring, Mahaad? Or maybe the pharaoh might have a go at it!"

She couldn't take it anymore! Make it stop! In her boiling rage and pain, Millennia let out a scream of bloody murder and continued to try and pull away from the malevolent thief king. Yanking her by the copper roots on top of her head, Bakura pulled the girl's head back and stared her straight in the eyes with his daunting gaze. Millennia suddenly kept quiet, and squinted while panting, waiting for his next move.

"Like I asked you before . . . wouldn't it be better if you just _died_?" After his terrifyingly smooth words, the thief king shoved her to the ground and then stood to his feet. Millennia let out an 'oomph!' as she fell back hard, her eyes closed and ready for impact. Bakura stood above her and only smirked at the girl's fallen form.

"_Now . . . to do what I had _really_ brought her out here for . . ."_ Raising his hand high into the air, the thief king exclaimed an order.

"Diabound! Bring out this girl's ka!"

"_Zhoom . . ."_

Out from underneath layers of dark-colored sand, a giant creature appeared amidst behind Bakura. It was hard to make out any details from the given natural light, but the being seemed to be a milky-white color, designed with many stone-grey markings. A male human head, arms and torso could be seen, and the head had many aspects to it which reminded one of an Egyptian god. And what was attached underneath this god's torso? A . . . snake? Razor-like teeth caged around the jaw of the reptile, and then its large mouth opened, revealing a hissing tongue which was more than happy to have a chance to feed on some prey.

"_This is Bakura's ka?"_ Millennia gaped in thought, simultaneously scuttling backwards in a crab-like position. _"Its power is enormous! It must have been the strong ka I had sensed the other night when I was out in the marketplace . . . then that means- oh, Ra, Bakura was there and nobody knew! But- how? This is no ordinary ka . . . it is a demon!"_

The tomb robber leered wildly at the princess' surprised expression; just the reaction he wanted.

"I believe that you have not been acquainted yet, my dear! This is my ka, Diabound! He obeys all of my commands and subjects himself to my will!" The violet eyed psychopath boastfully exclaimed, holding his bronze hands up into the air as though preaching with enthusiasm.

"You house a demon, Bakura!" The brunette princess shouted from her location in the oasis. It stunned her to think that someone could contain so much hate and malice, that it even became absolutely obvious through their ka. Bakura chuckled a bit in his own twisted way, and then took a step forward.

"That's where you are wrong, princess! Diabound is not a demon . . . he is a _god_!" Howling laughter escaped from the thief king's lips, his head thrust back and the darkness of the night engulfing it enigmatically. Millennia was frozen, and once again became entranced in what she had just heard.

"_Diabound . . . is a _god_? No way! It can't be . . . that ka is clearly evil! I don't understand this at all . . ."_

Before she even knew it, Bakura gave the beast another sadistic command.

"Spiral Wave!"

"_Spiral Wave? What?"_

In a matter of mere seconds, Diabound began to form a blinding light of silver in his claw-like hands. The energy formed into a ball of light, and then was dispersed forward and headed straight toward Millennia without mercy. The princess' blue orbs shook incredulously at the spiral-shaped light force coming toward her. She didn't know what to do. Locked into her amazement by this dazzling creature and its unbelievably awesome power, the girl could not move. However, she felt a pinch in her heart.

"_Get out of the way!"_

Millennia blinked, snapping out of her trance. She felt it- something-no, someone was calling to her. The light of death grew closer and closer- there wasn't much time to react. All the princess could do was continue to quickly crawl backwards, more and more, until-

"_VOOOOMMMM!"_

The spiral wave made a direct hit into the indigo tinted sand of the night, causing grains to fly everywhere within the blinding explosion, and Bakura's horse could be heard whinnying off into the distance. Millennia screamed as she was pushed back involuntarily by the force of the blast, and her body was thrown carelessly into the more shallow waters of the oasis.

"_Shoosh . . ."_

Through the quietness of the particles of sand falling back into place in the ground, a maniacal laugh of great delight echoed throughout the small oasis. Bakura's threatening form shook while he cackled as his figure became clear through the floating grains of indigo sand. Millennia wearily positioned her self from being sprawled into the sandy waters to be hunched over on her hands and knees. Covered in the murky water and its sludgy sand, she eyed Bakura from underneath her drenched bangs, frustration and confusion written all over them.

"_Did he bring me out to the desert . . . just to kill me? That does not make any sense, even for him that would be ludicrous. But . . . he did mention that . . . he wanted to bring out my ka. What? I don't have one!"_

Right after finishing these thoughts, Bakura's shout of 'Spiral Wave' became audible to her ear through the sounds of falling sand. More streams of light headed toward the brunette, and she managed to quickly get to her feet and clumsily run to her left side out of the water.

"_VOOOOMMMM!"_

A second explosion occurred from the impact the attack made with the lake, dark navy water spraying everywhere along with another shower of indigo-colored sand while Bakura's horse whinnying some more in an animal's instinct of fear. Millennia fell flat on her face as she ran away from the blast, but had tripped from the shaking ground underneath her that the explosion caused.

"Ohhh . . ." The princess moaned as she slowly lifted her face off from the ground, completely covered in sand. And thanks to her being wet, more stuck to her face than what would usually happen in such a circumstance. Shaking her head to remove most of the sand from her face, the princess squint her cerulean eyes to see if she could make out Bakura ahead of her through the raining sand. Most unusually, there was no vicious laughter to be heard, nor the command of another attack against her. However, there was the sound of footsteps.

"Why do you not summon your ka, princess? What is it? Do you think so highly of yourself that you believe you do not need a ka at all to defeat me?" Coming closer and closer from inside the misty sand, Bakura's gruff figure was beginning to not even be seen because of the lack of illumination in the sky tonight. Millennia began to breathe harder and harder. She didn't want to die just yet. And soon, Bakura would figure out that she did not have a ka. Would this anger him? Probably. Even worse, Bakura only knows one method of getting rid of things of no use to him . . .

"Ra, no . . ." Millennia whispered to her self in a panic, pulling her body forward with her fingers, barely gripping to nothing but grains of sand. The girl flopped forward, desperate to get away from this psychopath. She pushed her hands into the sand, which sunk through about a few inches, but she somehow managed to jolt her self to her feet in a crouching position. Millennia fell forward, too nervous to react quickly enough and be able to stand on her feet. Once again, the princess flopped forward in a state of terror, but this time held onto a large plant of some kind and shakily stood to her feet. She began to run in a trembling condition and soon fell again. However this time, a bronze hand met with the collar of her garbs and jerked her up in a sitting position.

"Hm hm hm . . ." Bakura chuckled a bit internally, crouching over the girl while lifting her collar up to be eye level with him. "You have no idea how to summon your ka, do you?"

Millennia's lip quivered for a moment, not enjoying this at the least bit. But on the one hand, _she_ was of royalty and Bakura was not. She had every right to stand up to him! She did it a few times before, but it's not so easy to do it all the time. She might as well tell him the truth; it was apparently obvious by now. Her expression becoming somewhat more confident, and Millennia calmed her self down a few notches and spoke.

"I . . . I don't have a ka."

Once this was said, Bakura became wide-eyed for a split moment, but then his expression of surprise transformed greatly into amusement.

"Hm . . . hm hm . . ." The violet eyed thief king barely tried to suppress a howl of laughter as he cackled insanely with his head thrust back after her comment. Millennia stared shockingly at him, not knowing what was so funny. Bakura's laughter died down, and then he revealed a frighteningly demonic smirk, his fangs bared as a wolf ready to kill. "What do you mean you don't have a ka? _Of course _youhave a ka! Everyone has ba, our life energy, but only some of us-like you and I- can take this energy and create a physical form- the ka! It's just a matter if you can summon it or not. The stronger the ba, the more likely you are to be able to summon a ka, you foolish girl!" After this statement, Bakura pushed Millennia back away from him and the Egyptian stepped backwards. Millennia was utterly puzzled; she had no idea that _she_ harnessed a ka. Diabound began to become invisible, slowly dissipating into the darkness, but not completely.

"_What is he doing? Did he call back Diabound?" _Millennia sat in her spot bewildered, and a light breeze began to blow through her dark locks of copper hair. It began to become cold; the princess shivered and held her wet arms, feeling a chill run down her spine. Bakura, however, seemed not to be bothered by the sudden drop in temperature and gazed yonder past the oasis. Millennia wondered what he was possibly thinking; his solemn expression in the dark was very difficult to see, but the girl realized that he was actually speculating something. Wondering what he could probably be looking at, Millennia questioned the man.

"Are your men out there coming this way?" Millennia blinked at the tomb robber, but then turned her head downwards since some sand fell into her right eye from her eyelashes. Even though she was rubbing her eye with her semi sand-covered fist, she was able to catch a glance with her left eye of the divulging white smirk slowly creeping across Bakura's night-hidden face.

"No . . . they're yours," the thief king's luminous violet orbs darted toward Millennia, and by the positioning of his eyes, he most likely had his head craning downwards toward the girl. Managing to get most of the sand out of her eye, Millennia gasped in surprise at the news and stood to her feet. She stood on her toes and narrowed her eyes, and was able to see many small, black dots running toward the oasis. An excited smile began to grow on her face, and the blue eyed princess' face lit up.

"This is wonderful! But- how did they know that I was here?" She asked her self out loud, dancing around in circles between her self and Bakura.

"Hmph- well, if I was in the middle of a desert at night and saw a bunch of flashing explosions in an oasis, I'd assume that something _had_ to be going on," he sarcastically replied with a smirk, crossing his arms over his chest, but continued to stare out into the distance. Millennia then stood still and pursed her lips together, wishing that Bakura wouldn't try to make her look stupid. Bakura then turned to face her, only his unnatural eyes and teeth being visible in the dark, but it was obvious that he was glaring at the princess. "You are a very, _very_ lucky little girl. I should have let Diabound blast you into bits, but I let you live. That's something I seldom do, remember that. I do not just let people live because I'm doing charity work, oh no. You have something that I want, a hidden power. That is your ka, my dear. But for now, your ba is not strong enough to let you summon it. Once you become stronger, physically and mentally, spiritually and emotionally, I will be back with Diabound to fight you, and to obtain your ka. This is how I want to defeat the pharaoh, and to gather all of the seven Millennium items to open the door to the after-life . . . to free Zorc Necrophades!"

"Zorc? This is the second time you have mentioned such a thing. Who is Zorc, exactly?" Millennia really wanted to know what she and everyone else was up against, and why would she want to grow stronger knowing that Bakura would just come back to steal her ka and possibly kill her? Bakura just put a finger up to his lips and narrowed his eyes along with a sly smirk.

"You will soon see, princess . . . you will soon see . . ." The outline of Diabound began to form behind Bakura, and the Egyptian took it upon him self to hop on top of its shoulder. The soldiers began to come closer to the oasis, but were unable to see the invisible Diabound and the soon to be unseen Bakura. "While your men come to meet up with you, I will go and search for mine. And believe me, princess, you will see me . . . very . . . soon." With that last statement, a maniacal cackle penetrated through the midnight air, Bakura and his ka melting into the darkness, leaving Millennia watching the scene with a blank stare. Once he left, the princess' expression transfigured into a more sympathetic one. "Bakura . . ."

"_Princess!"_

Reverting her attention toward the soldiers, now just about at the foot of the oasis, Millennia smiled faintly at them. Bakura's horse began to whinny, and the princess began to make her way toward it. She could finally return home now, but however, she now had many questions thirsting to be answered . . .

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The banquet was set; mountains of food rested across the table, along with a roasted pig in the center of the feast. Atem sat at the head of the long table, with Shimon sitting on his nearest left and Akunadin sitting on his nearest right. Down Shimon's row were Karim and Isis. Down Akunadin's row were Seto, Shada, and Mahaad. A couple of empty seats were toward the end, most likely reserved for the palace's new guests. Seto impatiently tapped his fingers against his arm, them being crossed across his chest in an irritated fashion.

"Where are those commoners at? We've been waiting for almost ten minutes for them. Then again, punctuality is not to be expected from such street urchins . . ." The azure eyed priest smirked to him self, feeling absolute dominance through his words. The pharaoh on the other hand, did not agree with Seto's logic one bit.

"Seto . . . I would hope that you would have more compassion for our guests. It was you who had _invited_ them here after all," Atem smirked highly at the priest, Seto slightly gritting his teeth at the somewhat twisted truth. The other priests smiled a bit through their amusement and chuckled lightly a bit to them selves. It was always fun to see Seto being out-witted by the pharaoh, or by anyone else for that matter. Seto gave an icy glare toward Mahaad, who in his mind, believed the holder of the Millennium Ring was finding this more entertaining than anyone else in the room. Mahaad finally caught on to this, and was about to make a remark- until Anzu made perfect timing.

"A-Anzu," Atem stood straight up from his seat and gaped in amazement at the sight of the beautiful girl standing at the archway of the dining room. Behind her were the group of servants from before who had cleaned her up, yet they decided to walk away, leaving Anzu with Mana by her side. The amethyst eyed pharaoh continued to stand frozen agape, causing the other priests to watch the scene in utter confusion, and priest Seto cocked a dark eyebrow towards the pharaoh. Atem then nervously to boldly cleared his throat, and regained his composure. "You look lovely." Anzu giggled lightly after he said this, and tried hard to fight off a blush which was dying to plaster itself across her face.

"Thank you, my pharaoh," the brunette then made her way toward the table, Mana following her, and Atem finally remembered to sit down. She decided to take a seat next to Isis, who smiled warmly at the girl, and Anzu did the same back as she tried to get comfortable into the seat. "Priestess Isis, I wanted to thank you for the oils," she said quietly to the woman. The priestess' smile grew, and she nodded at the girl and replied.

"It was no problem, I assure you. You may use them anytime you want during your stay here in the palace."

Anzu nodded in response with a smile as well, and worded another 'thank you' with her lips. Mana sat on the other side of Anzu, oblivious to what was going on between anyone right now and gazed in awe at all of the food spread out before her. Atem blinked toward the empty seat, realizing that the meal was missing a person. Turning his attention to Anzu, Atem blinked at her as well.

"Where is Jonouchi?"

As though he were right on cue, a golden haired adolescent ran into the room and stopped at the archway. He held him self up by planting his arm against the wall and panted as if he had sprinted in a marathon to make it to the dinner. Everyone exchanged perturbed glances with each other, curious of what had happened. Finally catching his breath, the almond eyed boy gave a toothy grin toward everybody.

"Sorry about the wait! I can't really remember what happened, but I somehow went unconscious and ended up in my bed. The servant lady told me I was supposed to eat dinner, and ya know, when I hear there's food, I never miss it!" Jonouchi gave a thumbs-up towards the group, causing Anzu to sweatdrop.

"_I hope he doesn't find out _why_ he was unconscious . . ."_ Following this thought, Anzu began to twiddle her thumbs from underneath the table, and Mana gave her a puzzled look. Jonouchi took it upon him self to take a seat right next to Mahaad, and waved across the table to his right at Anzu. The auburn eyed girl jadedly waved back, the sweatdrop on her head only growing larger. He wasn't only embarrassing in public, but around the pharaoh and his court too! She could only handle so much . . .

"Alright! Look at all this food- let's chow down!" Jonouchi went to grab the knife to carve the pig roast, but his hand was hit by a flying grape, causing him to drop the metal blade. "Hey! What's the big idea?" Glaring at a serious-faced Seto, the blonde rubbed his hand in his rising anger.

"Calm down, mutt."

"WHAT'D YOU CALL ME?"

All hell broke loose as the two began to squabble, the other priests watching in boredom. Anzu started to bang her head against the table, causing Mana to give the girl another puzzled look. Atem rested his chin into his hand in his tired state, waiting for the two men to shut-up. Being in the middle of all of this, Shada placed his hands over his ears and rested his elbows on the table. He closed his eyes; his head craned downwards toward the table and he was in his own little world of peace. Mahaad however, also in the center of this confrontation, decided to take action.

"Will you two quit acting like children and be quiet? We are trying to have dinner here, but it's impossible to enjoy ourselves if you two keep on acting so . . . ridiculous!" He then took a deep breath, and luckily Seto and Jonouchi had stopped their bickering. Jonouchi nodded in agreement, but Seto never liked anyone to have the last word besides him self.

"Ridiculous? You mean kind of like your security, Mahaad?" Before Mahaad could answer, Akunadin banged his fists against the table and shot straight to his feet.

"That's enough! All of you!" It then became silent, all eyes on the eldest high priest. "I know that many terrible events have been happening lately, but we must act responsibly, not childishly!" Right after this statement, there was a long pause. A rather awkward, uncomfortable silence. That is, until footsteps could be heard running from the hallways.

"Pharaoh! My pharaoh! I have good news from the other soldiers!" A guard came running into view from the halls and stood at the archway. Akunadin slowly took his seat as Atem stood up, and everyone was listening intently to the guard who wore a large grin across his rugged face.

"It's the princess! Princess Millennia is alive! She's safe, and the soldiers that were sent out into the desert to look for her have her now and are headed back to the palace at this very moment! They will be here no later than sometime tomorrow!" With this joyous news, delight covered everyone's face in the room.

"Millennia! She's okay!" Anzu exclaimed in joy as she and Mana jumped out of their seats and hugged each other, Mana squealing in her elation.

"I knew she'd be fine!" Jonouchi grinned excitedly through a face full of food.

"Oh, thank Ra! The gods have shown us mercy!" Shimon stood up and raised his hands high above his head, overwhelmed with happiness. All four of Isis, Karim, Mahaad, and Shada's faces lit up, glad to know that the princess was safe and sound. Seto stared at the soldier in a state of shock, surprised that she'd be alive at all. However, he was relieved as well. Akunadin eyed the guard suspiciously, and then stood up again.

"If we find out that this is a lie, then you and those soldiers who came up with such a tale will pay dire consequences." Akunadin stared coldly at the guard, who blinked at Akunadin in confusion.

"But, Lord Akunadin, it is true! It really is! I was told by a group of soldiers who had made contact with the soldiers assigned to find her say this!" He stated, not convincing Akunadin.

"Akunadin," Atem began, everyone directing their attention toward him. "Let us believe what he says and think positive." After hearing the youthful king say this, the elder high priest stared intently into the pharaoh's eyes, as if there was a grudge hidden somewhere.

". . .yes, my pharaoh . . ." Akunadin replied slowly, settling back down into his seat. Atem then faced the guard courteously.

"Thank you very much for delivering this message. But I have to know one thing. Where is Bakura?" The room became completely silent, waiting for an answer. The guard's eyes widened, realizing that he had left out a piece of the message.

"Um-uh- they believe he got away, my pharaoh. They spotted a commotion in an oasis in the desert and by the time they got there, Millennia was standing next to a horse waiting for them, and there was no sign of Bakura or his ka." The pharaoh gazed in thought, and then nodded at the guard.

"Once again, I thank you. You may go now." The guard nodded at the tri-color haired pharaoh, and afterwards ran off into the halls. Atem slowly sunk into his seat and became lost in thought. _"Commotion? Does he mean Diabound possibly? And why would Bakura leave Millennia like that? Something about this just isn't right . . ."_

"Great pharaoh, are you alright?"

"-Hm?"

Shimon waved a concerned hand in front of the pharaoh's face. His lost expression altered to be more alert.

"Uh-yes. Of course," Atem shook his head so he could come back to reality. Realizing that everyone was waiting for him to let them know when to eat (with the exception of Jonouchi), Atem blinked and smiled at his friends. He lifted up his chalice full of wine before him, and everyone else followed. Considering for a second to think of something to say, an idea had finally hit the pharaoh. Taking into contemplation of recent events, Atem knew what to say.

"To the peace of this nation, and forever an ever-lasting camaraderie among us!"

Following this, everyone else joined in, others more meaningful in their words than others.

"To peace and camaraderie!"

After the small toast, everyone began to drink from their chalices, looking forward to a brighter future, yet prepared to fight the worst. Peace and camaraderie they said . . . peace and camaraderie . . .

But the question is, will it last?

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_Well, that wraps up Chapter 3 (throws confetti). If you are curious, by the way, Anzu at one point of the story mentioned the name of the Egyptian goddess Nephthys. She is one of the gods involved with the dead, and I thought it would be appropriate for her to use her name in that context. If you have any questions, just ask, I'm always there to answer! (well, most of the time nn;; ). For a little heads up of chapter 4, there were a lot of unanswered questions in this chapter. For example, why is Diabound a god and not a demon? Who is Zorc Necrophades? (ok, ok, _we_ already know the answers to these questions, but the characters don't.) And if you don't know the answers, then come back for chapter 4, 'cause that's where they'll be answered (or if not chapter 4, then come back after you read that chapter for later chapters . . . um . . .yeah . . . because I want ya too). And once again, thanks so much to my readers! Because you actually read my writings and read my little author's notes coughrantscough. Also, if you're a Mahaad fan, next chapter he gets quite a bit of screen- time . . . page time . . . screen time . . . um, lots of time. (awkward silence) Thanks again for reading, I hope you liked it, and please come back! I like getting reviews too, so please leave some! Until then, "Duel! Stand-by!" _


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